Lichens in the Polar Deserts of the Northern Tip of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago.

Abstract

For the polar deserts of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the analysis of the dependence of the distribution of lichens on altitude above sea level, exposure by cardinal direction, the granulometric composition of soils, morphometric parameters of structural soils, the cover values of bryophytes and the total cover of cushion forms of plants and lichens was carried out. Based on 157 sample plots, nine lichenocenotypes (lichen community formed in a specific type of habitat) were identified. It is shown that with increasing height (during the transition from zonal to orozonal positions), the cover and the number of lichen species decrease. The cover of lichens also decreases with an increase in the cover of mosses. With an increase in the content of a fraction in soils of more than 0.125 mm, the species diversity and the cover of lichens increases. A total of 84lichen species were identified, of which Thamnolia vermicularis s. l. is classified as the most active, nine are highly active, 11-medium-active, the rest are little active and inactive. The current pattern of lichen distribution in the landscape of the far North of Novaya Zemlya is largely due to historical reasons-the youth of the landscape, recently freed from the ice cover, an exceptionally high degree of mobility of the cover of loose Quaternary deposits.