Vegetation cover of the young mud fields of Maguntan mud volcano (Sakhalin Island)

Abstract

The composition of plant communities in the mud fields of the Maguntan mud volcano were stud ied along a line transect (77 m). The total number of species in these communities was low (only eight species of vascular plants). The abundance and diversity of communities gradually increase along the environmental gradient from central to peripheral parts of the volcano. We also marked a great share of three local endemic species in total abundance—Deschampsia tzvelevii, Primula sachalinensis, and Gentianella sugawarae. Each of these species is dominant at some parts of the gradient close to the eruptive center of the volcano; at the peripheral parts of the gradient, these species are not present.