FLORA AND VEGETATION OF A PROTECTED EUTROPHIC FEN AT THE SOUTHERN FOOTHILLS OF THE KHIBINY MOUNTAINS (MURMANSK REGION)

Abstract

Nature monument "Evtrofnoye BolotoYuzhnogo Prikhibinya (Eutrophic Fen at the Southern Foothills of the Khibiny Mountains)" was established in 1980. It is situated 1.5 km to the south-east of the Khibiny Mountains. It includes a complex of herb-and-sphagnum-dominated strings and herb-and-brown moss-dominated flarks, spring-fed willow shrubs and sedge-and-forbs-dominated communities in the central part of mire complex, as well as open dwarf shrubs-and-sphagnum-dominated spruce woodland in the mire margins. The mire can be referred to as a "mesotrophic and eutrophic herb-brown moss spring fen", which belongs to the group of boreal East European types of "herb-brown moss fens". As far as the mire complex is situated on the slope of a glacial deposit hill, this is a variant of a sloping fen. The peat layer is thin, 20-40 cm on average. The mosaic of mire features depends on the outline of the mineral bottom and groundwater discharges. The flora of the nature monument is very rich, namely 156 species of vascular plants, 62 mosses and 40 liverworts, i. e. more than in any other mire in the Murmansk Region. The high number of species in the mire is due to the diversity of habitats, water and nutrient supply of the mire, as well as to the high level of knowledge on the flora of vascular plants and bryophytes of this fen. There grow three species from the Red Data Book of the Murmansk Region: Epilobium alsinifolium and E. davuricum with the "rare" species status (3), and Dactylorhiza incarnata with the "vulnerable" status (2), as well as three species (Equisetum scirpoides, Eriophorum latifolium and Saxifraga aizoides) from the list of species demanding special care for their natural state in the Murmansk Region. The main mission of the nature monument is to conserve rare plant species and the eutrophic fen mire complex in their natural state. In general, the anthropogenic pressure here is low, but vicinity to roads and railways makes the mire complex and its species vulnerable, mainly in the case of a change in the hydrological regime.

Keywords

• northern taiga
• wetlands
• sloping fens
• protected areas
• red data book
• rare species