Flora and Vegetation of the Aleksandrovskiy Wildlife Area (Tyumen Oblast, Vikulovo District)

Abstract

The Aleksandrovskiy wildlife area (95830.2 ha) reserved for a sanctuary is located in sub-taiga of the western part of Vikulovo District, Tyumen Oblast. A complete floral survey of the area is unattainable at present because it is a vast wetland with very few roads. The study is aimed at evaluating the current state of local flora and vegetation, and identifying plants and plant communities that require protection. Main types of phytocenoses in the Aleksandrovskiy wildlife area were described, which include small-leaved, light-coniferous and broad-leaved forests, willow coppices, cereal-forb dry meadows, sedge-reed floodplain meadows mixed with halophyte communities, pine-subshrub-sphagnum raised bogs (riams), and semi-aquatic vegetation. Birch, aspen and aspen-birch bracken, forb and cereal-forb meadows predominate in the surveyed area. The floral diversity of the site amounts to 410 species of vascular plants, with 80 found in Vikulovo District for the first time. New sites for 10 vascular plants, one moss and one lichen species included in Red Data Book of Tyumen Oblast were found, among them Cypripedium calceolus L., Lobaria pulmonaria (L.) Hoffm. included in Red Data Book of the Russian Federation. Fourteen species which are relatively rare in Tyumen Oblast were registered. All found species were described with a reference to their habitats, geographical coordinates of the collection sites and the date of collection. Additionally, the Red Data Book species description included their rarity status and the condition of the coenopopulations. The results allow to define the species distribution areas in Transuralia