Adjustments to the method for assessing the phytosozological status of the specially protected natural areas

• Published in: IOP conference series. Earth and environmental science 2020-11, Vol.607 (1), p.12014
• Main Authors: Saxonov, S V, Senator, S A, Koneva, N V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anthropogenic factors; Conservation; Conservation status; Criteria; Endemic plants; Endemic species; Flowers & plants; Genetic transformation; Human influences; Impact tolerances; Plant communities; Plant diversity; Plant populations; Plant species; Plants; Reference materials; Species diversity; Territory; Vegetation; Vegetation cover
• ISSN: 1755-1307; 1755-1315
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/607/1/012014

The study determines the criteria, allow quantifying the phytosozological (conservation) status of the specially protected natural areas. We distinguished 10 such criteria that reflect the diversity of vegetation cover and allow assessing the necessity of conservation for the specially protected natural areas. Among them: (1) the degree of the study of the vegetation cover, assessed by the number of published literature sources; (2) a reference (demonstration) value, an integral indicator that considers, on the one hand, the typicalness (reference value), on the other hand, the uniqueness of the vegetation cover. The following points must be taken into consideration: the presence of relict and endemic species of plants and plant communities in the study area; classical territories (relevés) of the first descriptions of taxa and syntaxa new to science; the diversity (in terms of numbers) of landscapes and types of vegetation, or plant associations; (3) the area of the territory, estimated according to reference materials; (4) man-impact tolerance of the vegetation cover, based on generally accepted concepts of primary, secondary (demutation) successions and the climax theory; (5) coenotic diversity, evaluated by the presence of the vegetation types or the number of studied plant associations; (6) general species diversity of the vascular plants, quantified by the number of registered species of vascular plants; (7) the number of species included in the federal Red List; (8) the number of species included in the regional Red List; (9) the degree of transformation of the natural territorial complex (landscape) assessed by the state of conservation of indigenous vegetation and disturbance of the lithogenous basis; (10) the restoration potential estimated by the ability (intensity) of the vegetation cover to recover after the anthropogenic load has been removed. Phytosozological status is an integrative indicator reflecting the current degree of conservation of the vegetation cover and the probability of its existence in near future. The conservation status is determined by simple arithmetic addition of the criterion points in accordance to the suggested original scheme.