Study of Plants and Lichens in the Murmansk Region Protected Areas

The European Plant Conservation Strategy (2002) lists as its primary task “understanding and documenting plant diversity”, which can be achieved through the compilation of detailed, annotated lists of species. The study of plant and lichen diversity in the Murmansk region is one of the main fields of activity of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden and Institute (PABGI) of the RAS Kola Research Center.

Within the framework of this research work, attention is primarily focused on the study of plant and lichen diversity in the Murmansk region protected areas. Along with vascular plants, the vegetation cover of the Murmansk region is dominated by bryophytes and lichens. In terms of the number of species, lichens are in the leading position (over 1,000 species), followed by vascular plants (889 aboriginal species) and bryophytes (190 liverwort species and 445 moss species). The PABGI Department of Flora and Vegetation is involved in the study of all of these groups. The preliminary results of research into the flora of the Murmansk region protected areas have recently been summarized and published (Konstantinova et al, 2004).

The strict nature reserves (Kandalaksha, Lapland and Pasvik) have long attracted the attention of botanists. However, reasonably systematic study of their flora was only begun fairly recently. For vascular plants, comprehensive species lists for all three regional strict nature reserves have already been published or prepared for publication (Vorobyova, 1996; Kostina, 2003; Kostina, Berlina, 2001, etc). For bryophytes, more or less comprehensive lists have only been compiled for the White Sea area of the Kandalaksha Strict Nature Reserve (Konstantinova, 1997; Belkina, Likhachev, 1998). Very scanty data are available for the Barents Sea islands, while the Pasvik Strict Nature Reserve has not been researched at all, and the available lists for the Lapland Strict Nature Reserve are very incomplete. With regard to lichens, none of the Murmansk region strict nature reserves can boast a full species list (this is particularly true of microlichens).

The PABGI protected area has been studied fairly well. 105 liverwort species, 205 moss species and 302 aboriginal vascular plant species have been registered (Konstantinova, ed., 2001) in this area, located on the largest mountain ridge of the Murmansk region, the Khibiny Mountains (see Fig.) This accounts for 57% of liverwort flora, 45% of moss flora and 35% of vascular plant flora in the entire region. With regard to lichens, the species list that was published earlier (Antonova, Dudoreva, 1997) and contained 230 species, has by now been supplemented with new taxons and is likely to be significantly expanded in the future.

Of all the existing reserves, only the Kutsa Reserve has been studied in any detail. This area has been researched many times by specialists in all plant types (Ulvinen, 1996a, b). Nevertheless, even in the Kutsa Reserve, additional research is required, in particular with a view to identifying those species that are only known from the relevant academic literature. It is clear that crustose lichens, for example, have yet to be properly studied. Nature monuments are typically not very large in terms of area (1-3 hectares) and often lack clearly marked borders. Lists of rare and endangered species of vascular plants have been compiled for the majority of the nature monuments, while the complete species composition has never been established.

In total, 745 vascular plant species, 411 moss species, 176 liverwort species and 559 lichen species have been registered in regional protected areas, accounting for 83.8%, 91.3%, 94.1% and 57.6% respectively of the species composition for each of these groups in the Murmansk region (Konstantinova et al, 2004). The small share of lichens that have so far been identified in the Murmansk region protected areas is attributable to the low level of research into these organisms (crustose lichens in particular), in the region as a whole and in protected areas specifically. Thus, the flora of protected areas fairly well reflects the entire species composition of the region. However, many rare and endangered plant and lichen species included into the Red Data Book of the Murmansk Region (2003) are not represented (or have not yet been identified) in the regional protected areas. Thus, 40% of lichens, 28% of leafy mosses, 22% of liverworts and 16% of vascular plants from amongst those included in the Red Data Book of the Murmansk Region have not been identified within local protected areas (Konstantinova et al, 2004). It is quite likely that some of such species, in particular lichens and bryophytes, will be registered in protected areas in the course of further research. However, it is highly unlikely that some of the species, in particular those classified as extremely rare, will ever be found on the territory of the protected areas. In order to protect such rare species it will be necessary to set up new nature monuments or reserves.

Over the past two years, bryophytes and lichens have been collected in the Lapland Strict Nature Reserve, one of the largest in the European part of Russia. The identification of collected materials, as well as the exploration of highly inaccessible parts of the reserve, are an important component of current work on the study of the biota of the Murmansk region protected areas. In addition, comprehensive exploration of the existing nature monuments is being carried out. There are plans to study the species diversity of bryophytes and lichens in the Pasvik Strict Nature Reserve and a number of other protected areas.

Literature:
Воробьева Е.Г. Флора островов в вершине Кандалакшского залива // Флора и растительность островов Белого и Баренцева морей. Мурманск, 1996. С.57-89.
(E. G. Vorobyova. Flora of the Islands of the Upper Section of the Kandalaksha Bay // Flora and Vegetation of the White and Barents Sea Islands. Murmansk, 1996, pp. 57-89)
Антонова И.М., Дудорева Т.А. Каталог лишайников заповедной территории Полярно-альпийского ботанического сада. Апатиты, 1977. 34 с.
(I. M. Antonova, T. A. Dudoreva. Catalogue of Lichens of the PABGI Protected Area. Apatity, 1977, 34 pages)
Белкина О.А., Лихачев А.Ю. Конспект флоры листостебельных мхов Кандалакшского заповедника (Белое море). Апатиты,1997. 48 с.
(O. A. Belkina, A. Yu. Likhachev. An Overview of Leafy Moss Flora of the Kandalaksha Strict Nature Reserve (White Sea). Apatity, 1997, 48 pages)
Белкина О.А., Лихачев А.Ю. К вопросу об изученности флор листостебельных мхов заповедников Мурманской области // Проблемы бриологии на рубеже веков. СПб, 2002. С. 17-19.
(O. A. Belkina, A. Yu. Likhachev. On the Question of the Level of Study of Leafy Mosses in the Murmansk Region Strict Nature Reserves//Issues in Bryology at the Turn of the Century. St. Petersburg, 2002, pp. 17-19)
Константинова Н.А. Печеночники Кандалакшского заповедника (острова и побережье Кандалакшского залива Белого моря). Апатиты, 1997. 46 с.
(N. A. Konstantinova. Liverworts of the Kandalaksha Strict Nature Reserve (islands and shores of the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea). Apatity, 1997, 46 pages)
Константинова Н.А. (ред.) Мохообразные и сосудистые растения территории Полярно-альпийского ботанического сада (Хибинские горы, Кольский полуостров). Апатиты, изд. Кольского научного центра РАН, 2001. 91 с.
(N. A. Konstantinova (ed.). Bryophytes and Vascular Plants in the PABGI Protected Area (Khibini Mountains, the Kola Peninsula). Apatity, published by the RAS Kola Research Center, 2001, 91 pages)
Константинова Н.А., Андреева В.Н., Белкина О.А., Костина В.А., Лихачев А.Ю., Урбанавичене И.Н., Урбанавичюс Г.П. Флора ООПТ Мурманской области. В кн: Принципы и способы сохранения биоразнообразия. Отв. ред. Л.А.Жукова. Йошкар-Ола, 2004. С. 94-96.
(N. A. Konstantinova, V. N. Andreyeva, O. A. Belkina, V. A. Kostina, A. Yu. Likhachev, I. N. Urbanavichene, G. P. Urbanavichus. Flora of the Murmansk Region Protected Areas. In: Principles and Methods of Biodiversity Conservation, ed. by L. A. Zhukova, Ioshkar-Ola, 2004, pp. 94-96)
Костина В.А. Сосудистые растения заповедника «Пасвик» (Аннотированный список видов) // Фора и фауна заповедников. Вып. 103. Москва, 2003. 44с.
(V. A. Kostina. Vascular Plants of the Pasvik Strict Nature Reserve (Annotated Species List) // Flora and Fauna of Strict Nature Reserves. Issue 103. Moscow, 2003, 44 pages)
Костина В.А., Берлина Н.Г. Очерк флоры Лапландского государственного биосферного заповедника (Мурманская область) // Бот. журн. 2001. Т. 86. № 12. С. 94-100.
(V. A. Kostina, N. G. Berlina. An Overview of the Flora of the Lapland State Biosphere Reserve (Murmansk Region)// Botanical Journal, 2001. Vol. 86, No. 12, pp. 94-100)
Красная книга Мурманской области. Мурманское кн. изд., Мурманск, 2003. 393 с.
(The Red Data Book of the Murmansk Region, Murmansk Publishing House, Murmansk, 2003, 393 pages)
European Plant Conservation Strategy. Planta Europa. 2002. 39 p.
Ulvinen, T. Bryophytes of the Former Kutsa Nature Reserve. // Oulanka Reports (University of Oulu). 1996 a, vol. 16, pp. 53 - 62.
Ulvinen, T. Vascular Plants of the Former Kutsa Nature Reserve // Oulanka Reports (University of Oulu). 1996 b, vol. 16, pp. 39-52.
 
Text and a photograph by:
N. A. Konstantinova
Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden and Institute, RAS Kola Research Center
e-mail: nadya_k@aprec.ru

Top | Back | Home