Possibilities of phyto-indication of seasonal glacial sphere in the mountain-glacial pool of Aktru (North Chuisky Ridge, Central Altai)

Direct measurements of the seasonal glaciosphere, which includes snow cover and ice fields, require long-term special and scrupulous work during the winter-spring time and are rather challenging due to hard access to mountain areas. At the present time in our country the number of networks of hydrometeorological stations is getting smaller, and a big part of them is located near the valleys of the rivers, therefore the data for correct substantiation of dependences of characteristics of the snow cover for considerable areas, especially for the mountainous ones, are not enough. The ecosystems in nival-glacial conditions of high mountains sensitively react to various climate changes, that is why in order to receive the characteristics of the seasonal glaciosphere it is possible to use phytoindication because phytocenosis and separate plants can keep "traces" of influence of factors of the habitat. By means of the method of phytoindica-tion we found out the height and the water stock of the snow cover, and also the distribution of ice fields (capacity and areas). The analysis of references, and the materials of the field research implemented on the campus of the Problem Research Laboratory of Tomsk State University serve as the basis of this paper. As a result of the research it was revealed that in order to define the average capacity of the snow cover in the mountain-glacial pool of Aktru it is possible to use the height of the bushes mostly located in the valley: the rotun-difolious birch (Betula rotundifolia), and willows (Salix saposhnikovi, S. Vestita, S. coesia). The most statistically significant results have been received for Salix vestita (the factor of correlation of the thickness of the snow cover and the height of the bush is 0.87). For other species the correlation factor is lower (less than 0.85), which limits the possibility of their practical use. Some kinds of willows are not suitable for the indication of the level of the snow cover: S. Coesia, S. pyrolifolia, S. hastata, S. arctica, S. rectijulis, S. Divaricata because their sprouts quite often survive without the snow cover. On the icy sites the most widespread kinds are the following families: Asteraceae, Poaceae, Cyperaceae. Bush vegetation occupies the greatest areas covered with ice fields and characterized by the places with the most powerful deposits of ice fields. The following species are widely spread: Salix coesia (10%), S. saposhnikovii (10-25%), S. pyrolifolia, S. hastata, S. arctica, S. rectijulis, S. divaricata are not widely spread. A considerable part is presented by Betula rotundifolia (10 %), B. ruticosa (5 %). Moss cover and horsetail - Eguisetum variegatum - are widespread on ice platforms, about 50 % is located on a more rigid ground ice fields, so it is possible to conclude that horsetail is the indicator of ice phenomena.

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