UDC

582.361/.99(268.46)(470.11)

Authors

Aleksey V. Kravchenko*, Mikko А. Piirainen**, Vera V. Timofeeva*
*Forest Research Institute of Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Petrozavodsk, Russian Federation)
**University of Helsinki (Finland)

Abstract

Khedostrov Island is one of the largest islands in the White Sea, its area is 3.9 km2. It is composed of unconsolidated quaternary deposits, and differs from all other islands of the White Sea by a plain coastline, without bays. The littoral zone is predominantly sandy. Most of the surface area is covered with old-growth lichen pine forests. There are no water bodies, watercourses or bogs in the island. 113 vascular plant species are recorded, 111 of which are native. Compared to the other White Sea islands of similar size, both predominantly rocky, or composed only of unconsolidated deposits, the species richness of Khedostrov Island flora is 1.5–2.0 times lower. An analysis of the systematic and geographical structure of flora of the island reveals some differences from the flora of the other islands of the White Sea. The families Poaceae and Asteraceae are the most abundant species, which is typical of boreal floras. At the same time, the position of another family of the leading triad – Cyperaceae is 5-6 ranks down, as well as the position of the Juncaceae family. The proportion of species belonging to the northern fraction decreases, while the proportion of species of predominantly southern distribution increases. Both low abundance of species, and the different structure of flora are associated primarily with a limited set of biotopes in the island. Many of arctic, arctoalpine, multizonal species, common in the White Sea islands, including halophytes (Carex spp., Puccinellia spp., Ruppia spp., Salicornia spp., etc.), obligate or facultative petrophytes (Huperzia spp., Rhodiola spp., Sedum acre, etc.), and hygro-, hydrophytes, helophytes (Carex spp., Eriophorum spp., Juncus spp., etc.) are totally absent. An annotated list of species of Khedostrov Island regarding frequency of occurrence and ecotopic confinement is provided.

Keywords

vascular plant, flora of the White Sea islands, systematic structure of flora, geographical structure of flora, Khedostrov Island, Onega Bay of the White Sea

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