Invasive and potentially invasive plant species in State Nature Biosphere Reserves of the Altai Republic (Russia)

I.A Artemov,E Yu Zykova

doi:10.14258/abs.v5.i4.7059

Abstract

In the Altaiskiy and Katunskiy State Nature Biosphere Reserves we registered 44 alien plant species, which were considered in Siberia as invasive and potentially invasive. Among them, there were 30 xenophytes and 14 ergasiophytes species. Rumex acetosella L., Impatiens glandulifera Royle, Galinsoga ciliata (Rafin.) Blake, and Strophiostoma sparsiflorum (Mikan ex Pohl) Turcz. are considered invasive in the Altaiskiy Reserve because they actively spread there in natural and seminatural plant communities and habitats. Most of the species had appeared in the territories of the reserves before their establishment as a result of agricultural activity or appeared after their establishment because of activity of the reserves themselves. Despite of a big amount of tourists in the reserves, the invasive and potentially invasive plants are absent on the ecological paths at present.

Highlights

Invasion of alien species is the global problem, which is strengthening in XXI century (Tittensor et al 2014; Early et al 2016)
The Altai Republic is situated in the Russian part of the Altai mountains and with other mountain regions of Southern Siberia and Northern Mongolia belongs to the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion, which was identified by WWF as one of 200 the most crucial territories to the conservation of global biodiversity (Olson and Dinerstein 2002)
Among them 23 species were included in the Black Book of the Flora of Siberia (Vinogradova, 2016), 42 species were revealed in the Altaiskiy Reserve and six species were recorded in the Katunskiy Reserve

Summary

Introduction

Invasion of alien species is the global problem, which is strengthening in XXI century (Tittensor et al 2014; Early et al 2016). 14000 alien plant species are known, 13000 of which have already naturalized in at least one region of the world (van Kleunen et al, 2015, 2019). In 42 % terrestrial regions of the world, the proportion of naturalized alien plant species is 10–40 % and this number is increasing (Pyšek et al 2017). The number of tourists in the Altai Republic raised from less than 400 thousand in 2003 to more than 2 million in 2017 (Medvedeva 2018). Such a growth inevitably resulted in arriving of great number of alien plant species, some of which successfully naturalized. Among them there are intensively spreading and harmful invasive ones: Acer negundo L., Centaurea jacea L., Conyza canadensis L., Echium vulgare L., Echynocistis lobata (Mich.) Torr. et Gray, Bunias orientalis L., Galega orientalis Lam., Heliantus tuberosus L., Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden., Hordeum jubatum L., Impatiens glandulifera Royle, Rorippa sylvestris (L.) Bess., and Solidago canadensis L. (Zykova 2016)

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Conclusion