The Evolutionary-Genetic Basis of Structural-Cenotic Diversity of Modern Vegetation in Prebaikalia

Abstract

An assessment is made of the uniqueness of modern vegetation in Prebaikalia as a biogeographical entity. It is shown that its complex structural-cenotic diversity is represented on the new universal geobotanical map of vegetation at a scale of 1:500 000. The map legend, constructed on the principles of V. B. Sochava’s multidimensional and multistage structural-dynamical classification of plant communities, displayed more than 160 cenotic subdivisions of vegetation of Prebaikalia representing its different types. An analysis is made of the development paths of vegetation for assessing its evolutionary potential. The study revealed the main stages of philocenogenesis in the Late Cainozoic. Its main directions have been revealed, which are important for understanding the characteristics of the region’s modern vegetation cover. The heterogeneity and heterochronicity of modern cenotic diversity of vegetation is shown. Emphasis is placed on the evolutionary processes of vegetation of Prebaikalia in the Holocene which can last for at least 40 thousand years. In this connection, it is proposed to change interpretation of the Holocene Optimum as an optimum for the evolution of the dark-coniferous taiga of Siberia. It is shown that the genetic linkages of the cenotic structure of modern vegetation cover in Prebaikalia are clearly pronounced via regional-typological categories of vegetation reflecting profound links of modern vegetation with natural-geographical regions where its philogenetic processes were taking place in interaction with the general evolution of the natural environment. An analysis is made of the significance of the floristic and cenotic boundaries having an important biogeographical significance. Such boundaries, on the one hand, are the footprint of the past evolutionary processes in vegetation, and in the natural environment as a whole, and, on the other, indicate the dynamical potential of possible changes in vegetation under global climate change.