The structure of the plant communities in the different environment contact sites on the base of the soil-geobotanic profiling in the changing climate of Lake Baikal region

Alexander Sizykh, Victor Voronin, Alexander Griczenuk, Svetlana Sizykh

Botanic Garden, Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russia.
Forestry Agency of Buriayt Republic, Russia.
Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Geochemistry, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia;.

DOI: 10.4236/ns.2012.410101                

Abstract

The results of studies of the peculiarities of formation of phytocenoses in environments contact sites of the western and eastern coasts of the Lake Baikal has been showed in this paper. On the base of geobotanic profiling combined with soil one, the structure and dynamics of phytocenoses forming under the conditions of mutual development of light-coniferous taiga forest and of extra zonal steppes. Edaphic conditions and placement of phytocenoses are main trigger factors determining the ways of plant cover development in this part of Lake Baikal basin. We discuss the characteristics properties inherent in the linkage of the dynamics and spatial variability of the vegetation with the change of climate in the Baikal region. The regional conditions of the physiogeographic environment had given rise to structurally highly contrasting plant communities in this region. The increase in yearly mean summertime amounts of rainfall, combined with the rise of yearly mean winter temperatures over the last years were conducive to changes in the spatial structure of vegetation. The boundary between the types of vegetation undergoes smoothing. The upper boundary of forest is altered because of changes of the environment that are responsible for the zonality and properties of vertical zonality of the vegetation on the mountains surrounding Lake Baikal. Changes in the vegetation serve as indicators of climate change as well as providing diagnostic tools for the genesis of the Baikal region’s natural environment.

Keywords

Phytocenoses; Environments Contact Sites; Soil-Geobotanic Profiling; Spatial Variability of Plant Communities; Taiga-Steppe Communities; Lake Baikal Region

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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