Aquatic vegetation of the South Urals (Bashkortostan Republic). I. Classes Lemnetea and Charetea

The database on vegetation of water objects of the South Urals on the basis of the published relevés (Grigoryev, Solomeshch, 1987а; Petrov, Grigoryev, 1991; Petrov, Onishchenko, 1991) and the relevés executed by authors, was created. The analysis of a phytocoenotic variety of vegetation of the classes Lemnetea de Bolòs et Masclans 1955 and Charetea Fukarek ex Krausch 1964 was carried out.

The water vegetation of the South Urals of the classes Lemnetea and Charetea is classified to 4 orders, 4 unions, 11 associations and 8 variants. The greatest variety of the plant communities of the class Lemnetea which unites cosmopolitan free-floating communities or pleustophyte communities in water column, widespread in reservoirs with still or drift water. Communities of this class are identified on accurately expressed floating layer of pleustophytes. Ricciocarpetum natantis association is noted for the first time in the region.

The class Charetea unites water vegetation with prevalence of the submersed macroscopic algae of Charophyta division of the order of Charales. In the South Urals this class is presented by the only association Charetum globularis which is noted locally in the Cis-Urals.

The comparative analysis of plant communities of the classes Lemnetea and Charetea in various regions of Russia and the neighboring countries has shown that the South Urals is characterized by a high syntaxonomic variety of vegetation. The communities described in estuarine part of the Dnieper River (Dubyna, Dzyuba, 2011) and the undercurrent of the Volga River (Golub, Maltsev, 2013) got the biggest structural similarities as well as wealth of classes’ coenofloras, and also in Western Siberia (Taran et al., 2004; Taran, 2008; Kipriyanova, 2013). Obviously, near latitudinal location of regions and similarity of types of water objects is affects. The aquatic vegetation of the South Urals demonstrates the smallest similarity with plant communities of the northern regions of Russia.