Abstract
Railroad embankments are special types of ruderal ecotopes in human-transformed areas. Railways are active channels for transzonal plant migration and are open to colonization by alien plant species. The aim of the research was to identify the factors of formation as well as the comparative analysis of the activity of partial floras species at six railway stations of the Republic of Bashkortostan located in three natural and climatic zones of the Southern Urals: the forest-steppe Cis-Urals, the steppe Trans-Urals and the Mountain-Forest Urals. The total flora comprised 288 species of vascular plants, including: 125 at the Kandry station, 124 at Buzdyak, 105 at Beloretsk, 128 at Inzer station, 157 at Sibai, 115 at Almukhametovo. A four-point scale of species activity was used for the comparative analysis of the flora of railway stations. It is shown that 21 species are found in all zones with the same degree of activity (“often” and “very often”). 125 species of vascular plants occur exclusively on the railway embankments of one of the studied stations. The flora of railway stations have similarities from 0.50 to 0.71 on the Sørensen-Czekanowski coefficient, which is provided by a common core of anthropotolerant species with a wide ecological amplitude. The differences reflect the zonal nature of vegetation and are formed through the participation of native flora species adapted to the specific substrates of railway embankment. Also the contribution of accidental drift of plant seeds is significant. The contribution of the zonal factor in various natural and climatic zones differs: the less difference between the railway ecotopes and the landscape and vegetation conditions of adjacent natural areas of the respective natural zone, the higher the participation of apophytic species in the forming of partial flora, and vice versa.