A contribution to the liverwort flora of the Sette-Daban Range (Eastern Yakutia, Russia)

Abstract

The Sette-Daban Range, about 650 km long, is the southernmost part of theVerkhoyansk Mountains System. The only information on the liverworts of the range so far has been based on the results of field research 2000–2001. The bedrock of the Sette-Daban Range consists mainly of limestone and dolomites, while the rest of the Verkhoyansk Mountains System is composed of acid rocks. Because of this, the flora of the liverworts of the Sette-Daban Range differs significantly in its species. The present research was carried out in 2015–2017 in the basins of the Vostochnaya Handyga and Sakkyryr rivers using the route method in different habitats throughout the vertical profile. The annotated list describes the growth conditions of each species and indicates the structures associated with reproduction. A total of 44 species were identified. Of these, Apopellia alpicola and A. megaspora are new for Yakutia, 22 species are new to the flora of the Sette-Daban Range, seven species are rare in the territory of Yakutia or in the mountains of the northeast of the republic (Arnellia fennica, Eocalypogeia schusteriana, Frullania subarctica, Lejeunea alaskana, Mannia triandra, Sauteria alpina, Scapania sphaerifera). Eocalypogeia schusteriana, Mannia triandra, and Scapania sphaerifera are included in List of Russian Protected Species, Lejeunea alaskana — in the Red Data Book of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). At present, 69 species are known for the liverwort flora of the Sette-Daban Range. Sette-Daban is the habitat and conservation area of many basiphilic and calcephilic liverworts, rarely found in the Verkhoyansk and Chersk Mountain systems.