Hepatic flora of South Ural

Nijole Kalinauskaite

Nijole Kalinauskaite was invited to study the bryophyte flora of Nature Reserve Gora Iremel in 2006 in Beloreckij district in Republic Bashkir. The excursion was arranged by ecologist Dr. Elvira Baisheva from Botanical Institute of Biology. The locality is at the border zone between Europe and Asia between 52º--56º N and 53--6º E at the altitude 950--1939 m. Another trip is planned for the autumn 2009.

The purpose of the study is to complete the bryophyte flora of South Ural, especially concentrating in hepatics since the area is very poorly known. Only 60 species of hepatics are this far recorded. The area is natural, without human influence and consists of forests and large open high-altitude calcareous areas. The area consists of the oldest mountain base on Earth and therefore can have highly endemic flora both in vascular plants and bryophytes. There was no ice cap during the last glacier which supports the theory of rare taxa surviving on mountains. How many European and Asian taxa occur mixed in the area is to be investigated.

The investigation of South Ural hepatics is a part of the project by Kalinauskaite and Sinikka Piippo “Floristic elements of hepatics from Northern Finland to Lithuania”. With South Ural the idea is to widen the research from N – S gradient to E – W gradient from Lithuania, oceanic western Europe, to eastern continental Europe.