Mountain steppes of the southern Urals are an extrazonal type of relict plant communities of relict origin with a unique floristic composition. This study is the first to describe the communities of the Northern Kraka petrophytous steppes. In the system of ecological and floristic classification these communities are referred to the Koelerio sclerophyllae-Festucetum valesiacae association. They occupy upper slopes and are adjoint to the forest communities of pine and larch. The communities grow on the steep slopes of South exposures with the inclination of up to 400, where lichens of the genus Cladonia are not rare. Various species of petrophytous steppes form the core of coenflora, e.g. xero-mesophytes of Zavolzhsko-Kazakhstan type xerophyte steppes. In the communities of North Kraka are less represented species of herbaceous layer in light-coniferous forests Brachypodio pinnati-Betuletea pendulae . The absence of such species as Elytrigia repens, Fallopia convolvulus may indicate a lesser degree of anthropogenic impact on the communities of Northern Kraka, due to its inaccessibility. Comparison with similar petrophytous steppe communities of Southern Kraka revealed high degree of their similarity. On the basis of ordination analysis it was found that the communities of North Kraka form a separate cluster associated with lower species diversity. The coenflora of the studied steppes contains a large group of rare species which need/require protection and sustainable use.
massif
1. Zhirnova T. V. 1987. Rastitel'nost' gornyh stepey Bashkirskogo zapovednika: Avtoref. dis.. kand. biol. nauk. Moskva.
2. Zhirnova T. V., Saitov M. S. 1993. Sintaksonomiya stepnoy rastitel'nosti Bashkirii. III. Gornye stepi Bashkirskogo gosudarstvennogo zapovednika. Ch. 2. Moskva.
3. Zhirnova T. V., Yamalov S. M., Mirkin B. M. 2007. Stepi Bashkirskogo gosudarstvennogo prirodnogo zapovednika: analiz vklada veduschih faktorov i sintaksonomiya // Byulleten' Moskovskogo obschestva ispytateley prirody. Otdel biologicheskiy 112(5), 36-45.
4. Krasnaya kniga Respubliki Bashkortostan. 2011 / Mirkin B. M. (red.). T. 1. Rasteniya i griby. Ufa: Media Print.
5. Krasnaya kniga Rossiyskoy Federacii (rasteniya i griby). 2008 / Kamelin R. V. (sost.). Moskva: Tov-vo nauch. izd-y KMK.
6. Teptina A. Yu. 2011. Petrofitnostepnaya rastitel'nost' hrebta Bol'shoy Kraka, Bashkortostan // Otechestvennaya geobotanika: osnovnye vehi i perspektivy: Materialy Vserossiyskoy nauchnoy konferencii s mezhdunarodnym uchastiem. T. 1. Sankt-Peterburg: Russkoe botanicheskoe obschestvo.
7. Teptina A. Yu., Paukov A. G. 2012. Petrofitno-stepnaya flora i rastitel'nost' giperbazitov Yuzhnogo Urala // Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo centra Rossiyskoy akademii nauk. T. 14, № 1(7), 1860-1863.
8. Fiziko-geograficheskoe rayonirovanie Bashkirskoy ASSR. 1964 / Kadil'nikov I. P. (red.). Ufa: Bashkirskiy gos. un-t.
9. Cherepanov S. K. 1995. Sosudistye rasteniya Rossii i sopredel'nyh gosudarstv (v predelah byvshego SSSR). Sankt-Peterburg: Mir i sem'ya.
10. Yamalov S. M. 2011. Sintaksonomiya i dinamika travyanoy rastitel'nosti Yuzhno-Ural'skogo regiona: Avtoref. dis. … d-ra biol. nauk. Ufa.
11. Braun-Blanquet J. 1964. Pflanzensoziologie. Grundzuge der Vegetationskunde. 3 Anfl. Wien-New York: Springer-Verlag.
12. Hennekens S. M. TURBO(VEG). 1995. Software package for input processing and presentation of phytosociological data USER’S guide // IBN-DLO Wageningen et university of Lancaster, 70.
13. Ter Braak C. J. F., Šmilauer P. 2002. Reference manual and CanoDraw for Windows User’s guide: Software for Canonical Commuhity Ordination (version 4.5). Microcomputer Power. Ithaca, N.Y., USA.
14. Yamalov S., Muldashev A., Bayanov A., Jirnova T., Solomesch A. 2012. Database Meadows and Steppes of South Ural // Biodiversity and Ecology 4.
