Nicola Arndt und Matthias Pohl - Neobiota

The name of each type includes the names of altitudinal belts with indication of main communities and
their species composition. Each type also has its individual geographic name.
For example: The South-West Ural type (No. 61) consists of several belts: alpine tundra, subalpine
(tall herb meadows, open woodlands with Quercus robur), dark coniferous forests (taiga with Picea
obovata, Abies sibirica), broad-leaved forests (mixed forests with Quercus robur, Tilia cordata, Acer
platanoides, Ulmus laevis), and forest steppes (birch, oak forests in combination with bunch-grass
steppes) (see Figure 2).
3. Altitudinal zonality types differ in the biodiversity of their altitudinal belts. There is also a specific
set of floro-coenotic complexes within each altitudinal belt.
4. Altitudinal zonality types could be represented by their geographic variants and subtypes.
Geographic variants are characterized by specific floristic composition, coenotic diversity of
formations, and prevalence of certain phytogeographic elements in the plant communities of the
particular belts. This is best observed on mountain slopes with different aspects: the altitudinal belts
differ in combination of plant communities and floristic diversity. Subtypes are characterized by a
truncated altitudinal belt series depending on the absolute elevation of the area in question. Mountain
massifs are complicated landforms including mountain ridges, plateaus and highlands, depressions and
intermountain basins. In such cases not all potential belts are represented in the vegetation cover and
there is only a part (top or bottom) of an altitudinal zonality type present.
4 Classification of altitudinal zonality types
The geographic-genetic principle is used as the basis of classification of altitudinal zonality types. The
types are assigned to groups, subclasses and classes, reflecting the structural-genetic characteristics of
mountain vegetation at regional level and its connection with zones and phytogeographical areas. A
group integrates altitudinal zonality types with a similar set of altitudinal belts within the limits of a
geographically unified area. Each belt, however, can differ in the set of plant communities which are
nevertheless uniform in their genesis. A class integrates groups of types with a unified complex of
genetically connected plant formations in the main altitudinal belt, which have similar structuraldynamic
properties. Subclasses represent regional specific features of plant communities.
The analysis of vegetation macrostructures of the mountains of Russia and adjacent territories permits
the recognition of 77 altitudinal zonality types with 37 variants and 66 subtypes, i.e., a total of 180
subdivisions of mountain vegetation. They belong to 5 classes, 10 subclasses and 25 groups of types.
The altitudinal zonality types with their geographic variants and subtypes reflect the present
ecological-geographical potential of mountain territories (Table 2).
5 Conclusion
The map “Zones and altitudinal zonality types of vegetation of Russia and adjacent territories” reflects
the most important spatial characteristics in vegetation distribution, and represents vegetation
macrostructures at a new level of resolution. The work has resulted in the creation of a database for the
main structural vegetation types of Russia. The following parameters for each geographical variant of
zonal vegetation and altitudinal zonality type have been included in the database: a) characteristics of
the bioclimatic situation of local sites within an altitudinal belt and a geographical variant; b)
phytocoenotic characteristics of the plant associations within the limits of an altitudinal
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