Geographical Patterns of Weed Diversity in the Central Urals

The weed flora of arable lands was studied in four areas: the mountainous part of the Central Urals, the eastern macroslope of the Ural Mountains, the western piedmont of the Ural Mountains and the Transural region. These areas matched vegetation types such as middle taiga, southern taiga and northern forest-steppe. The weed flora consisted of 256 species from 41 families and 166 genera. The greatest taxonomical diversity was revealed in the eastern macroslope of the Ural Mountains (208 species); however, in the mountainous part of the Central Urals and the western piedmont of the Ural Mountains, it was as low as 141–143 species. About 40% of weeds occurred in all areas: the group of territory-specific weeds was clearly significant in the Transuralregion (14%). In the forest-steppe zone, the group of alien species approached 50%, while in the taiga zone it reached 40%. Keywords: Central Urals, weed plants, diversity, life-forms, geographical differentiation of diversit

Phylogenetic Diversity of Urban Floras in the Central Urals

Modern cities harbor a high diversity of plants, and urban floras are significantly different from non-urban floras especially when considering the proportion of alien species found in cities. However, it is not clear whether urban areas disproportionately select for species from relatively few evolutionary lineages or provide opportunities for species across the full spectrum of plant lineages. Here, we examined the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of the floras in four cities (Yekaterinburg, Kamensk-Uralsky, Krasnoufimsk, and Turinsk) in the understudied region of Central Urals (Russian Federation). We classified native species into indigenous and apophytic species, namely, those that are sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance and those that have expanded their range with human activity, respectively. Alien species were classified into archaeophytes and neophytes according to when they were introduced (i.e., before or after than 1800). Phylogenetic diversity was quantified using Faith’s index to reflect total evolutionary history in urban areas and mean phylogenetic distance (MPD) to reflect species dissimilarity. Phylogenetic diversity of native species was higher than that for alien species, and the standardized effect size (SES) of MPD for natives was positive, reflecting their general dissimilarity from one another, while it was very negative for aliens, showing that they were phylogenetically clustered. However, among natives, apophytes were significantly clustered, while indigenous species were overdispersed. For the aliens, MPD was higher for archaeophytes compared to neophytes, though both groups were significantly clustered. These results show that urbanization leads to a non-random selection of plants. Apophytes and alien plants were composed of closely related species, reflecting similar ecological traits and are likely to be pre-adapted to the environmentally altered and highly disturbed urban environment. © Copyright © 2021 Tretyakova, Yakimov, Kondratkov, Grudanov and Cadotte.Funding for this collaboration was provided to MC by the Connaught Global Challenges Award, the Office of the Vice-President International, the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto, the Office of the Vice-Principal Research at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (#386151). This work was supported in part by the Program for Improving the Competitiveness of the Ural Federal University (the decree no. 211 of the Government of the Russian Federation, contract no. 02.A03.21.0006) and by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 19-04-01084)

Interregional features in the taxonomic composition of the Russian segetal floras

The article contains a comparative analysis of the taxonomical structure of the weedy species composition (segetal flora) in eight regions of Russian Federation: Leningrad, Novgorod, Vologda, Rostov and Sverdlovsk Provinces, Udmurt Republic, Republic of Bashkortostan, and Altai Territory. The segetal flora comprised weeds of cereals, root crops and perennial grasses. The comparison was made separately for the native and alien weeds. The number of native species was higher than that of alien species and varied from 137 to 209 species. The number of alien weeds varied from 99 to 179 species. Vologda Province had the lowest diversity of both native and alien plant species. Udmurt Republic had the greatest native species diversity and Altai Territory had the greatest alien species diversity. The Asteraceae, Poaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Caryophyllaceae and Scrophulariaceae families dominated in both the native and alien fractions. The authors compared the compositions of species, families and genera of native and alien weeds. Native and alien weedy species showed the greatest similarity in their composition in geographically close regions: European Russia and the Urals. As for geographically remote regions – Altai Territory and Rostov Province – native and alien weedy species compositions were distant. At the same time, the levels of similarity among the native species were lower than among the alien ones. This attests to greater variability in the species composition among native weeds than among alien ones

Новые виды и наиболее интересные находки для флоры Урала и прилегающих территорий

The article provides information about rare and newly described species for the flora of the Urals and adjacent territories, namely: Astragalus saphronovae Kulikov, Atraphaxis decipiens Jaub. et Spach., Carex amgunensis F. Schmidt, Galium densiflorum Ledeb., Jovibarba globifera (L.) J. Parn., Najas minor All., Potamogeton nodosus Poir., Pseudorchis albida (L.) Á. Löve et D. Löve, Salix myrsinites L., Veronica agrestis L. Essays include the information on the species ecology and short taxonomic notes. © 2021 Altai State University. All rights reserved.The work was supported by the state assignments: АААА-А19-119031290052-1 “Sosudistye rasteniia Evrazii: sistematika, flora, rastitelʹnye resursy” [“Vascular plants of Eurasia: systematics, flora, plant resources”], АААА-А18-118011990151-7 “Izucheniye, sokhraneniye i rasshireniye bioraznoobraziya rasteniy v prirode i pri introduktsii na Yuzh nom Urale i Priuralye” [“Study, conservation and expansion of plant biodiversity in nature and during introduction in the Southern Urals and the Cis- and Trans-Urals region”], AAAA-A17-117050400146-5 “Otsenka prostranstvennovremennoy izmenchivosti bioraznoobraziya i usloviy yego formirovaniya na Severe Zapadnoy Sibiri v svyazi s izmeneniyem klimata i osvoyeniyem neftegazovykh resursov” [“Assessment of the spatio-temporal variability of biodiversity and the conditions for its formation in the north of Western Siberia in connection with climate change and the development of oil and gas resources”], and by “Programmoy povysheniya konkurentosposobnosti Uralskogo federalnogo universiteta” [“The program for improving the competitiveness of the Ural Federal University”] (the decree no. 211 of the Government of the Russian Federation, contract no. 02.A03.21.0006)

ARBUSCULES AND VESICLES ROOT PERCENT COLONIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF LEUCANTHEMUM VULAGRE LAM

Arbuscules and vesicles percent root colonization has mainly negative correlation with plant weight characteristics but indifferent with allo­metric ones. Presumably small plants can maintain mycorrhiza as compensa­tion of its own low development

Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi under copper smelter pollution

The diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities in the forest litter and intensity of mycorrhizal colonization of dominating herb species were studied, in sites with two contrasting levels of contamination with copper smelter emissions. The fungal community structure was assessed using T-RFLP analysis. In the contaminated area, the diversity and abundance of herb layer was ten times lower than in the control area. The intensity of mycorrhizal colonization of host plants also decreased under contamination. However, the phylotypic richness of AMF in the forest litter only slightly decreased under contamination, and the evenness, composition and structure of AMF communities from the contaminated and control areas were similar. It was suggested that few plant species in the contaminated area may maintain high AMF diversity. However, 15–23 AMF phylotypes were registered, in bare sample plots in the contaminated area. It is very likely that phylotypes, found in the bare plots, as well as between-zone similarity of AMF communities resulted from «burials» of AMF spores in the litter’s thick layer in the contaminated area and represent a «footprint» of weakly disturbed stages of the herb vegetation.Работа выполнена при финансовой поддержке РФФИ (проект 13–04–01699), Программы развития ведущих научных школ (НШ–2840.2014.4) и Программы Президиума РАН «Живая природа» (12–П–4–1026)

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF SEGETAL PLANTS IN THE SVERDLOVSK REGION

The floristic similarity of segetal plants was examined in the Sverdlovsk region within the four phytogeographical districts selected by geographic position, natural environment and climatic features. About 40 % of segetal plants (94 species) occurred within all the districts and 21 % (50 species) occurred only in one district. The Jaccard similarity coefficient of segetal plants within the districts varied from 0,56 to 0,72. The closest similarity of segetal plants was revealed between the north forest-steppe and the south boreal forest districts. Segetal plants of the middle boreal forest district was the most distinct

ECOLOGICAL-GEOGRAPHICAL SUBSTANTIATION OF FORMATION OF SPECIES STRUCTURE OF WEED PLANTS ON THE TERRITORY OF SVERDLOVSK REGION

In the protection of cultivated plants is of great importance to develop multi-year forecast of weed distribution in the regions. The purpose of the study was to identify the types of weeds, for which the territory of Sverdlovsk region is suitable in terms of heat and humidity. The method of ecological-geographical analysis of the simulated complex of the 113 species of weeds, for which the territory of the Sverdlovsk region suitable conditions of heat and humidity, as well as 14 species for which this area is partially suitable. The species occurrence on the territory of Sverdlovsk region species of weeds are included in the simulated prognostic complex, was confirmed by the data of scientific publications and private studies. For farmers and crop areas it is important to know that the identified 127 species of weeds are the basis for the formation of contamination of crops (planting) in the Sverdlovsk region, and the decrease in the level of technology of cultivation of agricultural crops, widely spread in agro-ecosystems