Association Dicranoweisio-Deschampsietum ass. nov. in cold desert belt of Putorana plateau (Srednesibirskoe plateau)

Abstract

New association Dicranoweisio-Deschampsietum ass. nov. with 2 variants within the class Salicetea herbaceae Br.-Bl. 1947 is described for the cold desert belt of the Putorana plateau (Srednesibirskoe plateau). Its species composition represents the combination of species charac­ter for both the snow beds in the northern part of Taymyr peninsula (ass. Deschampsio-Cerastietum regelii Mat­veye­va 1994) and zonal vegetation of the polar deserts (асс. Aulacomnio-Deschampsietum prov., unpublished author’s data) on Bolshevik Isl. (Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago) with common dominating tufted grass De­schampsia borealis. Compare to the mentioned associa­tions it is poorer in species numbers within all groups of plants (vascular, mosses, liverworts, lichens) due to the restricted number of plain arctic species. Its horizontal structure demonstrates a larger similarity with the polar desert communities.