Floristic diversity of Volga Reach islands of the Rybinsk Reservoir

Abstract

Floristic diversity, i.e. vascular plants, fungi, lichens, liverworts and mosses of five islands (some of which are protected areas) situated in the middle part of the Volga Reach of the Rybinsk Reservoir has been studied. For vascular plants, ecological groups and life forms have been identified. The island of Shumorovsky is distinguished by the largest number of species, while Koprinsky – by the least one. According to the Jacquard coefficient, the similarity between the islands is less than 50% that is explained by the difference in the present ecotopes. Mesophytes, xeromesophytes and hygrophytes dominate in ecological groups of the floral composition of different islands. The analysis of life forms is evidence of the predominance of herbaceous plants (65.9% of the total flora).

Keywords

• flora composition
• generic coefficient
• ecological groups