PECULIARITIES OF SPECIES DIVERSITY AND STRUCTURE OF VEGETATION COVER ON AEOLIAN RELIEF FORMS IN THE NADYM RIVER VALLEY

Aim. The purpose of the paper is to study the features of species diversity and the structure of the vegetation cover, which is formed under natural conditions in the areas of the distribution of the ancient and modern eolian relief in the middle and upper reaches of the Nadym River.
Methodology. The data of the 2021 field studies of the largest sand dunes in the north of Western Siberia in the middle and upper reaches of the Nadym River are analyzed. A total of 14 sites are examined, and standard geobotanical descriptions are performed on each site measuring 10х10 m. As a result, 33 different phytocenoses are studied in detail. The data of geobotanical descriptions serves as the basis for identifying patterns of the formation of the structure and diversity of plant communities under conditions of active manifestation of deflationary processes in humid north taiga conditions.
Results. The features of the formation of plant communities depending on the scales of deflationary processes, and the role of separate species in fixation of moving sands are revealed. The total species diversity of the described sites consists of 51 species, including 5 species of trees, 4 representatives of the undergrowth, 22 representatives of the grass-bush layer, and 20 species of mosses and lichens. The species diversity of large sand dunes, despite the sparse and unstable vegetation cover, is characterized by comparable or higher species diversity compared to the background areas of fixed sands due to the settlement of representatives of cereals and grasses of psammophilous tundra and forest-tundra groups in the open areas. The diversity of habitat conditions in terms of insolation, moisture, and substrate mobility is reflected in the change of dominant pioneer species in the process of dune overgrowth. Coniferous (with the predominance of Pinus sylvestris, L.) lichen sparse forests are formed on fixed sands. The rate and success of consolidation of mobile sands in the northern taiga subzone depend on the area of sand outcrop, the speed and mode of the dominant winds, and the nature and degree of moisture.
Research implications. The study is an actual basis for further construction of typical succession series of overgrowth of areas of blown sands and for the use of the identified patterns for the development of effective measures for the reclamation of sandy outcrops of anthropogenic origin in the conditions of the northern taiga of Western Siberia.

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