Meadows in the Floodplain of the Ashit River (Republic of Tatarstan)

D.S. Lyubarskii*, E.L. Lyubarskii**

Kazan Federal University, Kazan, 420008 Russia

E–mail: *lds57@mail.ru, **evgeny.lyubarsky@kpfu.ru

Received January 12, 2016

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Abstract

The role of meadows in the floodplains of small rivers at the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia) has increased after the flooding of meadows in the floodplains of the Volga and Kama Rivers, which occurred when the Kuybyshev and Lower Kama Reservoirs were created. However, these meadows in the floodplains of small rivers appear to be the least studied. The paper presents the results of the geobotanical study of meadows in the floodplain of the Ashit River (Republic of Tatarstan). Based on the numerous geobotanical des­criptions of meadow plant communities, the main meadow associations have been revealed and characterized in detail. Their dependence on habitat conditions and the comparative role in the meadow plant cover of the floodplain of the Ashit River have been investigated. These meadows are distinguished by the high diversity of plant communities. We revealed and described 12 plant associations and 3 pasture subassociations. On the whole, 27% of meadows in the floodplain of the Ashit River are used as pastures, while 73% of them are hayfileds.

Keywords: floodplain meadows, Ashit River, plant community, Pre-Kama region, Tatarstan

Figure captions

Fig. 1. Ashit River; its floodplain and catchment basin.

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For citation: Lyubarskii D.S., Lyubarskii E.L. Meadows in the floodplain of the Ashit River (Republic of Tatarstan). Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Estestvennye Nauki, 2016, vol. 158, no. 1, pp. 117–134. (In Russian)

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