Alien Species in the Flora of the Middle Volga Region
Abstract
The article presents information on the diversity and structure of the alien flora of the Middle Volga region on the border between the steppe and forest-steppe zones of the European botanical and geographical province. In the studied area, we identified 440 alien species of plants (24.6% of the total floristic diversity), including 59 invasive and potentially invasive species, the dispersal of which has already caused environmental consequences or could become a threat in the future. According to the degree of naturalization, alien plant species among the regional flora are represented by 146 ephemerophytes (33.2%), 122 colonophytes (27.7%), 151 epecophytes (34.3%) and 21 agriophytes (4.8%). As verified via the main method of skidding, alien species are distributed almost equally – 228 xenophytes (51.8%) and 212 ergasiophygophytes (48.2%). It was revealed that of the 150 species of alien plants, there are only 84 of the most common European species in the Middle Volga region, most of which do not show high cenotic activity. The obtained results actualize the development of a system of ecological and economic assessment of the consequences of introducing alien plant species into regional flora.
Keywords: alien plants, invasive species, Middle Volga region, regional flora
References
[1] Lambdon, Ph. W., Pyšek, P., Basnou, C., et al. (2008). Alien flora of Europe: Species diversity, temporal trends, geographical patterns and research needs. Preslia, vol. 80, pp. 101–149.
[2] Vinogradova, Yu. K., Mayorov, S. R., and Khorun, L. V. (2009). The Black Book of Flora of Central Russia (Alien Plant Species in the Ecosystems of Central Russia). Moscow: GEOS.
[3] Pyšek, P., Pergl, J., Essl, F., et al. (2017). Naturalized alien flora of the world: Species diversity, taxonomic and phylogenetic patterns, geographic distribution and global hotspots of plant invasion. Preslia, vol. 89, pp. 203–274.
[4] Senator, S. A. and Rozenberg, A. G. (2017). Assessment of economic and environmental impact of invasive plant species. Biology Bulletin Reviews, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 273–278.
[5] Saksonov, S. V. and Senator, S. A. (2012). Guide to Samara Flora (1851-2011). Flora of the Volga River Basin, vol. I. Togliatti: Kassandra.
[6] Rakov, N. S., Saksonov, S. V., Senator, S. A., et al. (2014). Vascular Plants of Ulyanovsk Region. Flora of the Volga River Basin. Vol. II. Togliatti: Kassandra.
[7] Pyšek, P., Richardson, D. M., Rejmanek, M., et al. (2004). Alien plants in checklists and floras: Towards better communication between taxonomists and ecologists. Taxon, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 131–143.
[8] Richardson, D. M. and Pyšek, P. (2006). Plant invasions: Merging the concepts of species invasiveness and community invisibility. Progress in Physical Geography, vol. 30, pp. 409–431.
[9] Grime, J. P., Hodson, J. G., and Hunt, R. (1988). Comparative Plant Ecology: A Functional Approach to Common British Species. London: Unwin Hyman.
[10] International Plant Names Index. Retrieved from http://www.ipni.org (accessed on April 27, 2018).
[11] Morozova, O. V, Starodubtseva, E. A., and Tsarevskaya, N. G. (2008). Adventive flora of Central Russia: Inventory results. Izv. RAS. Ser. geogr., no. 5, pp. 85–94.
[12] Senator, S. A., Saksonov, S. V., Vasjukov, V. M., et al. (2017). Invasive and potentially invasive plants of the middle Volga Region. Russian Journal of Biological Invasions, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 158–167