UDC 581.93 (470.67)

Sadykova G.A. FLORA OF COMMUNITIES INVOLVING PALIURUS SPINA-CRISTI MILL. FOOTHILL DAGESTAN // Arid Ecosystems. 2023. Vol. 29. № 4 (97). P. 21-29. | PDF

The results of the analysis of the flora of the paliurus communities of Piedmont Dagestan are presented, ranging from the extreme southern (spurs of the Main Caucasian Range, near the village of Novoe Karakyure) to the extreme northern point of growth on the border with the Chechen Republic (Kizilyurt district, outskirts of the villages of Mutsal-aul and Gadari). The maximum assessment of the diversity of plant communities was carried out on the basis of data from 17 geobotanical descriptions.

A taxonomic analysis of the flora was carried out, and a spectrum of leading families was identified that belongs to the Po-As-La + Fa spectrum, characteristic of the Central Asian type with a significant influence of the Mediterranean flora. According to the results of biomorphological analysis, the predominance of hemicryptophytes (45.4%) and therophytes (33%) was revealed. The latter are an indicator of the aridity of conditions and anthropogenic impacts on coenoses. Geographical analysis, which revealed the predominance of species of the boreal (30.4%) and ancient Mediterranean (27%) types, showed its border position at the junction of the boreal and xerophilic types, reflecting the development of flora characteristic of the Caucasus in the contact zone of the Euro-Siberian and Iranian-Turanian regions with subsequent penetration of the Near Asian flora.

Based on the results of floristic studies, an assumption was put forward about the primary of communities of foothill paliurus of Dagestan due to the centuries-long stability (5-6 thousand years) of the geoclimatic conditions of the territory, the xerophytic composition of species of the shrub layer, and the absence or single participation of Querсus species in the group of associations Paliureta graminosa, the association Paliuretum ( Tarki-Tau, near the city of Makhachkala) and a group of ass. Paliureta bryosa, ass. Paliuretum bryosum (Beyukdere Ridge, Tabasaran District).

In the foothills of Dagestan, the occurrence of single individuals of the species Quercus and Ulmus campestris in the composition of paliurus rare forests, in our opinion, is not a synusial remnant of oak forests. Communities with Paliurus spina-christi grow here on the lower belt of mountain slopes, bordering oak forests, and are the result of an ecotone effect, in which, in some optimal ecological microniches, accidentally introduced oak specimens can grow together with P. spina-christi. At the same time, the boundaries of the forest, as well as the altitudinal levels of the ecotone areas, depend on the steepness and solarity of the slopes. In a broader spatial and temporal aspect, in Piedmont Dagestan, the shift along the altitudinal level of the boundaries of paliurus and forests with the dominance of Quercus and Ulmus campestris species depends on changes in the climatic tendencies of its aridization or humidization.

Keywords: Paliurus spina-cristi; Piedmont Dagestan; flora analysis; primary communities; successions, arid woodlands.

Funding. The work was carried out within the state specification No. 122032300227-8 «Geoclimatic features of distribution and description of communities with populations of rare and resource tree species of the North Caucasus».

DOI: 10.24412/1993-3916-2023-4-21-29

EDN: DLKUAL