Preserving Rare and Endangered Calcific Steppe-Dwelling East-European Species ex situ

Abstract

We have summed up the results of experimental efforts for preserving threatened and endangered calcific steppe-dwelling East-European species in the N V Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The results of experiments carried out since 2009 on the preservation of rare and endangered calcephilic-steppe species of Eastern Europe, which require alternative methods of protection, including in connection with the suppression of their populations in modern reserves of Russia, are presented in the conditions of the RAS GBS. The previous experience and methods of organizing such collections and expositions are analyzed. The main factors that negatively affect the life cycle of species at our point of introduction are identified, among them are inappropriate cultural conditions and competition that determine the duration of the existence of samples, that is, their stability. In this regard, it is proposed to create a system of specialized rockeries that imitate the characteristic natural habitats of various calciphilic communities: outcrops of rocky limestone, outcrops of writing chalk or calcareous soils. The developed approaches made it possible to study ex situ the peculiarities of adaptation of more than 170 rare and stenotopic plant species, mainly difficult in terms of cultivation. As a result of observations during the research period, preliminary results of their cultivation were summed up and the following ratio of species in the groups of introduction resistance was revealed: unstable (8%), weakly resistant (15%), resistant (40%), highly resistant (37%), that is, positive results were obtained for almost 80% of species undergoing a full life cycle in Moscow. The research results can find practical application not only in the creation of such collections in botanical gardens, but also for the restoration of populations of protected species in anthropogenically disturbed natural habitats.