Flora of Belukha Nature Park (Altai Republic)

Nature parks are protected areas organised for conservation of biodiversity, environmental education and recreation. Inventarisation of biodiversity (in particular, compilation of species checklists) is necessary for realisation of the first task and is very desirable for ensuring the second and the third ones. Belukha Nature Park was organised in 1997 in the Altai Republic. Some well-known nature sights are located in the park: lakes, waterfalls, glaciers and Belukha Mountain (4506 m), as well as one of important plant areas of the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion. In 1998, Belukha Nature Park, along with the Ukok Quiet Zone Nature Park, Lake Teletskoye, the Katunskiy and the Altaiskiy State Nature Biosphere Reserves were united into the Golden Mountains of Altai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Moreover, Belukha Nature Park together with the Katunskiy State Nature Biosphere Reserve and the Katon-Karagay National Park (Republic of Kazakhstan) forms the core of the Great Altai Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, first in Asia, which was officially established by UNESCO in 2017. Belukha Nature Park is situated in 49°41'-50°14'N and 86°05'-86°42'E, on the northern principal slope of the Katunskiy ridge, mainly (See Figure). Its area is 132 455 ha. The landscape structure of the park is mostly formed by high mountain landscapes of glacial-nival, tundra, alpine/subalpine-meadow and open subalpine woodland types. Mid-mountain forest landscapes occupy a moderate area, while low mountain forest-steppe landscapes are represented by relatively small patches in the northern part of the park. A checklist of vascular flora of Belukha Nature Park is compiled according to the results of the author's expeditions in 1985, 1987, 1991, 2007 and 2017. Herbarium was collected by means of a semistationary method of local floras and hiking. Collected specimens, as well as field records, in particular releves, were considered. Specimens of the Central Siberian Botanical Garden Herbarium (NS) collected by other researchers, as well as literature sources were also taken into account. The flora of Belukha Nature Park comprises 729 species and subspecies of higher vascular plants, which belong to 309 genera and 70 families. The biggest families are Asteraceae (90 species), Poaceae (69), Rosaceae (42), Ranunculaceae (42), Fabaceae (41), Brassicaceae (40), Cyperaceae (33), Caryophyllaceae (33), Scrophulariaceae (28), and Salicaceae (26). The biggest genera are Carex (28 species), Salix (24), Poa (17), Artemisia (15), Potentilla (13), Allium (12), Pedicularis (11), Astragalus (10), Ranunculus (10), and Draba (10). Since the forest-steppe vegetation belt is not well represented in the park, a number of species which are common in low mountains of the northern principal slope of the Katunskiy ridge were confirmed for the territory of the park by one or several specimens and, therefore, were included in the checklist as rare: Gypsophila altissima L., Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik., Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb., Coluria geoides (Pall.) Ledeb., Fragaria viridis Duchesne, Lathyrus pratensis L., Onobrychis arenaria (Kit.) DC., Onosma gmelinii Ledeb., Verbascum phoeniceum L., Dracocephalum peregrinum L., Arctium tomentosum Mill., Artemisia sericea Weber, Centaurea scabiosa L., Veratrum nigrum L., Elytrigia repens (L.) Nevski, Phleum phleoides (L.) H. Karst., etc. For the same reason, some species which are typical of the forest-steppe belt of the Katunskiy ridge were not registered in the park in the forest-steppe belt but were observed in the upper belts. They are, for example, Padus avium Mill., Potentilla anserina L., Seseli buchtormense (Fisch. ex Spreng.) W.D.J. Koch, Pedicularis incarnata L., Veronica krylovii Schischk., V. porphyriana Pavlov,and Thymus mongolicus (Ronninger) Ronninger. Moreover, more than 70 species which are common on adjacent territories in the forest-steppe belt were not encountered in the park: Teloxys aristata (L.) Moq., Silene chlorantha (Willd.) Ehrh., Adonis sibirica Patrin, Anemone sylvestris L., Delphinium laxiflorum DC., Papaver chakassicum Peschkova, Chamaerhodos erecta (L.) Bunge, Crataegus sanguinea Pall., Filipendula vulgaris Moench, Potentilla argentea L., P. humifusa Willd. ex Schltdl., Oxytropis deflexa (Pall.) DC., Lithospermum officinale L., Amethystea caerulea L., Origanum vulgare L., Veronica pinnata L., Patrinia intermedia (Hornem.) Roem. et Schult., Carduus crispus L., Tragopogon orientalis L., etc. There is a high probability that these species will be found in the low mountain part of the park at steppe sites on the southern slopes. More than 40 endemics and subendemics of the Altai Mountain Country grow in Belukha Nature Park. Among them there are three species with their loci classici on the territory of the park: Delphinium reverdattoanum Polozhij et Revjakina, Ranunculus akkemensis Polozhij et Revyakina, and Rhodiola krylovii Polozhij et Revjakina. About 20 species of the flora are under regional or state protection and are included into the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (8 species) and/or the Red Data Book of the Altai Republic (20 species) as rare or reducing in number or distribution: Erythronium sibiricum (Fisch. et C.A. Mey.) Krylov, Allium altaicum Pall., A. ledebourianum Schult. et. Schult. f., A. pumilum Vved., A. tytthocephalum Schult. et Schult. f., Cypripedium guttatum Sw., С. macranthon Sw., Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Druce) Soo, Rheum altaicum Losinsk., Paeonia hybrida Pall., Aconitum decipiens Vorosch. et Anfalov, Rhodiola algida (Ledeb.) Fisch. et C.A. Mey., R. coccinea (Royle) Boriss., R. krylovii Polozhij et Revjakina, R. rosea L., Hedysarum theinum Krasnob., Oxytropis ampullata (Pall.) Pers., O. saposhnikovii Krylov, Arnica iljinii (Maguire) Iljin, Dendranthema sinuatum (Ledeb.) Tzvelev, and Stemmacantha carthamoides (Willd.) Dittrich.

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