Russian Journal of Biological Invasions

2015, issue № 4

CONTENTS

Alien plants of Yalta mountain forest nature reserve: state of knowledge and prospects of research - Bagrikova N.A., Bondarenko Z.D. - The verified checklist formed on the base of literature data analysis and own research results, and brief information about 78 alien plants on the territory of Yalta Mountain-Forest Nature Reserve are given. New species found recently are listed. Transformation of vegetation cover is shown according to the analysis of the structure and dynamics of the adventive fraction of flora on protected area. The groups according to the time of introduction, degree of naturalization, and origin are identified.

Invasive plant species in three cities of Udmurt Republic - Baranova O.G., Bralgina (Zyankina) Е.N. - Results of the study on frequency of occurrence of invasive plant species in three cities of Udmurt Republic (Votkinsk, Mojga and Kambarka) are presented. A scale of presence of invasive species was developed. Groups of species were identified in accordance with the scale. A comparison of the lists of invasive plant species in three urban areas was made. The similarity in the invasive species sets was noted: 78% of the species were common to all urban floras.

Alien plant species and their influence on the Main botanical garden’s flora dynamics - Vinogradova Yu.K., Mayorov S.R., Bochkin V.D. - Flora of the territory of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) was analyzed. It comprises 856 species from 407 genera, belonging to 95 families of vascular plants. For the first time the dynamics of the local flora was analyzed for a significantly long period. It was revealed that within 65 years the local flora increased by 1.8 times due to 62 wild species, 284 species escaped from cultivation and 34 alien weeds. The only species definitely escaped from the Garden’s territory is Adenocaulon adhaerescens; Geum macrophyllum is another possibility. Alien component of the flora is characterized in means of taxonomy, life-form, type of distribution range and invasive status.

Morphological and genetic identification of freshwater dreissenid mussels: Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771), D. rostriformis bugensis Andrusov, 1897 (Bivalvia) - Voroshilova I.S. - Dreissenids display a high diversity of shell morphology. Taxonomic keys based on shell morphology are not always able to differentiate these species with confidence. In such cases genetic markers are useful in addition to morphological features. Typical and atypical dreissenid individuals were analyzed in this study. We revealed that morphological feature, namely position of ventro-lateral shoulder at the fore part of valve (3–5 mm from the fore part), is a reliable diagnostic feature for atypical D. polymorpha and D.r. bugensis.

Restoration of Middle-Irtysh population of European beaver - Kassal B.Yu. - As a result of reintroduction of individuals of Eastern European and Belarusian subspecies of European beaver populations, Middle-Irtysh population has formed. It is possible to single out 5 stages in its development, each of which has its individual statistical and mathematical characteristics: adaptation (1953-1966), recovery (1967-1975), constraining the sequence (1976-1988), depression (1989-2000), expansion (2001-2012, not finished). Complete restoration of the European beaver range in the region is not reached, since the introduction of commercial hunting led to number depression and number dilution of the range. That is why the quantitative and spatial development of the Middle-Irtysh European beaver population has been delayed for 25 years.

On the problem of box elder invasion into the forests around Moscow - Kostina M.V., Yasinskaya O.I., Barabanshchikova N.S., Orlyuk F.A. - Anthropogenic and natural disturbances, such as affection of spruce by eight-dentated bark beetle, favor the invasion of Acer negundo into the strongly fragmented forests close to Moscow. Crown closure more than 0.5, as well as dense understory of rowan or A. platanoides young growth, prevents penetration of A. nedundo into the forest communities. Acer negundo is less shade tolerant but more fertile and fast-growing than A. platanoides, so it invades slowly only light disturbed woodlands. Its ability to form multilayered stands faster than other trees hampers regeneration of local species. Progressing affection of A. negundo leaves by Phyllosticta negundinis fungus and non-infectious leaf toxicosis may decrease its invasive potential.

Early stages of ontogenesis of Chaerophyllum aureum L. – alien Umbelliferae species of European Russia - Petrova S.E. - The alien range and the behavior at the early stages of development of Chaerophyllum aureum L. – alien Umbelliferae species in the European part of Russia have been studied. C. aureum has appeared in European Russia in the 20th century, one of the first records in Moscow Region dates 1924, the most specimens in the herbarium (MW, MHA, LE) refer to the 1990 and 2000 years. More often the species is found in the anthropogenic landscapes, near railways, at the wastelands, meadows and the edges of the deciduous forests. In the most regions C. aureum has naturalized and created stable self-reproducing populations. The vegetative organs of C. aureum have a set of helio-mesomorphic features that promote it to take root in the relatively open moderately moist habitats. It seems that a high rate of germination and significant polymorphism in morphology, size and time of development of C. aureum individuals at the early stages of ontogenesis can play an important role in the successful naturalization of the species in the different regions of European Russia.

The way of emergence of some Western European plant species in Kaluga Region – the pathway of the German Army in 1941–1943 - Reshetnikova N.M. - On the territory of Kaluga Oblast in the river valleys, where German Army was stationed during the Second World War, it was marked at least 15 species which native distribution areas belonged to Western Europe and to isolated localities in Eastern Europe. Probably, their emergence in the region can be connected with introduction during military operations.

Sinurbanization of common hamster (Cricetus cricetus L., 1758) - Surov A.V., Poplavskaya N.S., Bogomolov P.L., Kropotkina M.V., Tovpinetz N.N., Katzman E.A., Feoktistova N.Yu. - The common hamster (Cricetus cricetus L., 1758) historically formed an extensive area covering much of Europe and Asia. However, in the latest 50 years almost throughout the whole range its number in natural habitats and agrocenoses dropped sharply. At the same time, the common hamster began to settle the cities, that could be considered as a biological invasion Now urban populations are found in Vienna (Austria), several cities of Germany, Czech, Slovakia, Poland and Russia. By the example of Simferopol, where the largest urban population exists, we show which resources the species can use in the city and which changes in the ecology and behavior follow this. It is suggested that the major factors favor the cities settling by the common hamster are additional environmental resources associated with the specifics of the urban environment: the emergence of new shelters, food sources etc. We assume that ecological opportunism, polyphagy, high stress resistance could be crucial for the ability to settle urban environments.

Regularities of distribution of alien plants in anthropogenous habitats of Sverdlovsk oblast - Tretyakova A.S. - The results of alien species ecotope distribution analysis in the Sverdlovsk Oblast are presented. Nine versions of anthropogenic ecotopes pooled into two groups, decorative (residential, park, cemetery), and ruderal-segetal (factory, industrial disturbance, traffic, segetal, coastal water, landfill), are singled out. In the decorative habitats 243 species occur, in ruderal-segetal – 286 species. Level of similarity in species composition of decorative and ruderal-segetal habitats (Jaccard coefficient) is 0.54. A common feature of anthropogenous habitats is a very limited number of ecotope specific species – the proportion varies from 1% to 20%. Traffic, residential and landfill habitats are notable for their very peculiar species composition. At the same time their plant communities are characterized by the greatest diversity of alien plants also. Only a small proportion of alien species – 25 species, or 7% – shows a high ecotope activity and mastered the whole spectrum of man-made habitats. Most of alien plants (58%) are found in 2–7 habitats and thus are moderately active. About one-third (109, or 32%) of alien species are poorly active and marked in some one locality.

Review of woody exotic species producing a self-sowing in Saint-Petersburg (Russia) - Firsov G.A., Byalt V.V. - The results of study of exotic woody plants producing a self-sowing on the territory of Saint-Petersburg (Russia) are given. According to our data, there are 227 species of 73 genera of 31 families which produce a self-sowing here. For 49 species of 28 genera of 19 families a self-sowing has been observed for the first time. A set of species may be considered as a potentially invasive, which is especially notable with the warming of the climate of Saint-Petersburg. The production and establishment of self-sowing in many cases and in different places depends on many reasons such as cross-pollination, the type of soil and presence of weeds, the degree of illumination, the presence or lack of treatment for plants etc. The constant monitoring for all species producing a self-sowing is urgent because some of them may be aggressive and potentially invasive.