Биологические науки/1. Систематика и география высших растений

Master's Degree Student Petrova K., Candidate of Biological Sciences
Sultangazina G

The Kostanai State University named after A. Baitursynov

Ecological and coenotic analysis of dendroflora in the state national natural park "Burabaj" (North Kazakhstan)

Floristic investigations are one of the main methods addressing the global problem of our time – exploration and preservation of biological diversity. For solving this problem it is necessary to receive data based on science about the present state of the plant cover in general and dendroflora in particular.

The State National Nature Park (SNNP) "Burabay" is located on the territory of Akmola region, in the most elevated part of the northern margin of Kazakh Hummocks. Its area is 129 935 hectares. In the structure of the State National Natural Park there are 10 forest districts: Akylbayskoe, Borovskoe, Katarkolskoe, Zolotoborskoe, Mirnoe, Barmashinskoe, Priozernoye, Bulandinskoe, Temnoborskoe and Zhalayyrskoe. The mountain relief is represented mostly in the western part. Here there is the Kokshetau mountain range in the form of the arc, which is bounded by large lakes on all sides. In the northern part it reaches the maximum height. The top of the mountain uplift is Mount Kokshetau (Sinyukha) which reaches a height of 947. 6 meters above sea level. Further to the south, there is Mount Burabay (690,0 m.a.s.l and Mount Zheke-Batir (826,2 m.a.s.l.) In the southern part of the mountain chain the height of the mountains goes down to 400 – 500 m.a.s.l. The large lakes such as Borovoe, Shchuchye, Small and Large Chebache, Maybalyk and Katarkol are situated in its territory.

The climate in this area is sharply continental, with hot summers and hard and dry winters. The annual precipitation is 250 – 295 millimeters in the lowland, up to 400 mm in the hilly part. The stable period with average daily temperatures higher than 5 °C lasts from late April to early October. The average temperature in June is 18 – 20 °C, maximum 38 – 40 °C. The average temperature in January is 17 – 18 °C, the absolute maximum – 30 °C. The average degree of air saturation is 50%.

Soils and soil cover is characterized by considerable heterogeneity, due to the strong roughness of the relief, a variety of parent rock materials, the differences in climate and vegetation. In the belt of plains and nipples ( at the 280 – 400 m elevation) they point out medium-humic and southern low-humic black soils. In the mountain-forest zone (400 – 700 m) are formed the following major soil types: pine forest primitive petromorphous, pine forest forest petromorphous, pine forest soddy petromorphous, gray forest, meadow-forest, meadow-black soil, ordinary and thin black sols, flood meadows, peaty marsh. Steppe areas form complexes with birch groves on gray forest soils and solods [1].

The area of the park is characterized by a high level of biodiversity, which is determined by a number of objective reasons: the great variety of environmental, climatic and other conditions, the genesis of the flora and vegetation, the situation on the border of two climatic zones: steppe and forest-steppe, landscape features. All this gives the specificity and originality to the flora of the region. The predominant forest formations are Pinus silvestris L.,Betula verrucosa Ehrh., Betula pubescens Ehrn., and Populus tremula L.

The tree and shrub flora of the State National Natural Park is represented by 30 families, 54 genera and 94 species. According to the number of genera and species they distinguish the following families: Rosaceae (11 genera, 17 species); Salicaceae (2 genera, 12 species); Grossulariaceae (4 genera, 9 species); Pinaceae (4 genera, 5 species); Asteraceae (1 genus, 5 species). 4 families contain two genera, 3 species (Betulaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Elaeagnaceae, Fabaceae); 3 families contain one genus, 3 species (Aceraceae, Lamiaceae, Ulmaceae); 3 families contain two genera, 2 species (Chenopodiaceae , Pyrolaceae, Erisaseae); 4 families contain one genus, two species (Berberidaceae, Nitrariacea, Rhamnaceae, Solanaceae); 11 families contain a single genus and species (Boraginaceae, Brassicaceae, Celastraceae, Cornaceae, Cupressaceae, Ephedraceae, Frankeniaceae, Polygonaceae, Sambucaceae , Tiliaceae, Viburnaceae).

The dendroflora of the park is represented by biomorphs of deciduous and evergreen species. To the biomorph "deciduous tree" they refer 19 species (Betula pendula Roth., Betula pubescens Ehrn., Ulmus laevis Pall., Acer campestre L., Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn and others); the biomorph "evergreen tree" consists of 3 species (Pinus sylvestris L., Larix sibirica Ledeb., Рiсеа abies (L.) Karst.); biomorph "deciduous shrub" include 33 species (Euonymus europaea L., Berberis vulgaris L., Cerasus tomentosa Lois. , Lonicera pallasii Ledeb.,Grossularia acicularis (Smith) Spach. and others); the biomorph "evergreen shrub" has 3 species (Ephedra distachya L., Juniperus communis L., Juniperussabina L.). 14 species can form the shape of a tree or shrub (Salix caprea L., Crataegus sanguine Pall, Viburnum opulus L., Elaeagnus angustifolia L. and others).

Halfshrubs are devided into 6 species; 1 species (Oxycoccus palustris Pers.) refers to the biomorph "evergreen shrub." There are 5 species of "deciduous shrubs": Astragalus chaetolobus Bunge.,Oxycoccus palustris Pers., Solanum dulcamara L., Solanum kitagawae Schonbeck-Temesy., Artemisia absinthium L., Artemisia dracunculus L.

"Deciduous subshrubs" have two species: Kalidium foliatum (Pallas) Moq., Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.; «evergreen» have only one species – Linnaea borealis L.; «deciduous halfsubshrubs» consist of 12 species (Alyssum lenense Adams., Chimaphila umbellata (L.) W. Bartram ., Atriplex verrucifera Bieb., Onosma simplicissima L., Artemisia frigid Willd., Artemisia marschalliana Spreng., Artemisia rupestris L., Comarum palustre L., Frankenia hirsute L., Thymus serpyllum L., Thymus dahuricus Serg., Thymus stepposus Klok. et Shost.),

« evergreen halfsubshrubs " have 1 species – Orthilia secunda (L.) House.

It is difficult to identify subshrubs, halfshrubs and halfsubshrubs, and in the literature there is often different information about the same species. (Life forms according to Serebryakov).

Trees and shrubs are not equal in height and occupy different altitude niches. In this regard all life-forms of phanerophytes were subdivided. It was elicited that the predominant trees and shrubs are of small size: nanophanerophytes, whose height is up to 1.5 – 2 meters account for 40% (29 species), micro-phanerophytes with the height of up to 8 meters account for 33% (24). There are 15 species of high trees (mesophanerophytes), reaching a height of 25 – 30 m (this is equivalent to 21%) and 4 species of big trees (megaphanerophytes) with a height of 35 meters (this is equivalent to 6%). ( Life forms according to Raunkier).

Trees, shrubs, halfshrubs, subshrubs and halfsubshrubs were analyzed in accordance with their relation to the most important environmental factors.

There is a clear predominance of mesophytes in relation to the water. They accounte for 50 species, or 64%. They are mostly concentrated in broadleaf, mixed and coniferous forests and on alpine meadows (Berberis vulgaris L., Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn, Betula pendula Roth., Populus balsamifera L., Salix acutifolia Willd., Acer campestre L., and others). (Figure 1).

Figure 1

The xerophytes accounte for 9 species (Pinus sylvestris L., Ephedra distachya L., Berberis oblonga. (Regel) Schneid., Alyssum lenense Adams., Rosa laxa Retz., Thymus asiaticus Serg., Artemisia frigida Willd., Artemisia marschalliana Spreng., Kalidium foliatum (Pall.) Moq ).

The xeromesophytes have 13 species (Artemisia rupestris L, Juniperus communis L., Artiplex verrucifera M.Bieb., Atraphaxis frutescens (L.) K.Koch, Vaccinium vitis-idaea L., Chimaphila umbellata (L.) W.P.C.Barton., Orthilia secunda (L.) House., Cotoneaster melanocarpus Fisch. ex Blytt., Crataegus altaica Ledeb. ex Loud., Spiraea crenata L., Spiraea hypericifolia L., Nitraria sibirica Pall., Nitraria schoberi L.; the mesoxerophytes have 10 species(Onosma simplicissima L., Thymus stepposus Klok. et Schost., Artemisia dracunculus L., Larix sibirica Ledeb., Juniperus sabina L., Rosa spinosissima L., Astragalus chaetolobus Bunge., Caragana frutex (L.) K.Koch., Elaeagnus oxycarpa Schltdl., Elaeagnus angustifolia L.).

The moisture-loving species (mesohygrophytes, hygromesophytes and hygrophytes) have 12 species (Salix alba L., Salix caspica Pall., Salix cinerea L., Salix lapponum L., Salix pentandra L., Salix rosmarinifolia L., Ulmus glabra Huds (U. scabra Mill.)., Ulmus laevis Pall., Ulmus pumila L., Ribes hispidulum Jancz., Comarum palustre L., Swida alba (L.) Opiz).

The analysis of trees and shrubs relation to light shows a clear predominance of light-loving species. 63 species of heliophytes are registered (Ribes aureum Pursh., Solanum kitagawae Schonbeck-Temesy, Malus Domestica Borkh., Rosa spinosissima L., Padus avium Mill. и др.). There are 25 species of scioheliophytes (Rhamnus cathartica L., Ulmus pumila L., Juniperus communis L., Pinus sylvestris L. and others), and 6 species of shade-loving sciophytes (Berberis vulgaris L., Berberis oblonga (Regel) C.K.Schneid., Picea abies (L.) Karst., Sorbus sibirica Hedl., Linnaea borealis L., Tilia cordata Mill.).

According to the termomorph plant species dominated in the dendroflora are cold-resistant, they don’t demand strong heat in summer and don’t suffer from frost, and are heat-resistant. It is evidence that ecosystems are in the northern region.

Mikrotermophites make up 41,5% (Salix caprea L., Salix alba L., Grossularia acicularis (Smith) Spach., and others), hecistothermophites – 58,5 % (Larix sibirica Ledeb., Oxycoccus palustris Pers., Alnus glutinosa (L .) Gaertn. and others) megatermophites – 53% (Rosa acicularis Lindl., Ribes aureum Pursh., Berberis oblonga (Regel) Schneid, and others). Many species are cold- resistant and heat-resistant at the same time.

In consideration of the foregoing premises it should be noted the complexity of the ecological structure of trees and shrubs flora in the SNNP "Burabay", and its originality and richness of species.

List of reference:

1. Bobrovnik V., Whitman R. Soil surface of forestless valley-hill covering on the Kokchetav highland // The Kazakh RDE for forest agriculture and agricultural afforestation research. – 1975. - Т. IX. – P. 31 – 41.

2. Flora of Kazakhstan - Almaty.: 1956-1966. T. 1-9.

3. Abdulina S. List of vascular plants of Kazakhstan - Alma-Ata: 1999. - 187 p.

4. Takhtadzhyan A.System and phylogeny of flowering plants - Moscow, Leningrad: Nauka, 1966. – 610 p.

5. Karamysheva Z., Rachkovskaya E. The botanical geography of the steppes of Central Kazakhstan - Leningrad: Nauka, 1973. – 278 p.

6. Gorchakovskii P. Forest oases Kazakh hills-M.: 1987. – 158 p.