The population structure of Nepeta pamirensis at different altitudes in the Pamirs (Tajikistan)

Alexey Yurievich Astashenkov; Vera Alexeevna Cheryomushkina; Maryio Tilloevich Boboev

doi:10.14719/pst.2630

Authors

Alexey Yurievich Astashenkov Central Siberian Botanical Garden of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5253-0842
Vera Alexeevna Cheryomushkina https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1502-7006
Maryio Tilloevich Boboev https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7044-8589

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2630

Keywords:

populations, ontogenetic spectra, life forms , highlands, Pamirs, Nepeta pamirensis

Abstract

The structure of alpine plant populations is one of the main criteria for assessing the current state of alpine flora. Species of the genus Nepeta, most of which belong to alpine plants, can be universal objects for assessing changes in environmental conditions, including the impact of anthropogenic pressure. The article discusses the ontogenetic structure and population size in connection with the change in the life form of Nepeta pamirensis at different heights of the Pamirs (3060-4250 m a.s.l.). Our research showed that the ontogenetic spectra of different populations are different. These differences are linked to changes in the life form, the length of ontogenesis and how well seeds reproduce. Populations were studied using transects. The individual seed was taken as the counting unit. In total, 3 populations were studied and more than 750 individuals of different ontogenetic states were included in the analysis. The ontogenetic structure of populations was characterized using basic demographic indicators: the recovery index, ageing index, generative index and the ecological density index. Depending on the altitude gradient, the species was characterized by different efficiencies of seed reproduction, which determined the different densities of individuals in plant communities of distribution. In general, with an increase in the height of distribution of a species, the structure of the population became more stable.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Stanyukovich KV. Vegetation cover of the Eastern Pamirs. Moscow: Nauka; 1949.

Stanyukovich KV. High altitude vegetation of the Soviet Union. Dushanbe: Donish; 1973.

Steshenko AP. Formation of subshrub form of growth in high altitudes of Pamirs. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk TadzhSSR. Otd Estestv Nauk. 1955;12:3-16.

Ikonnikov SS. Composition and characteristics flora of the Pamir. Izvestiya Otdeleniya Sel'skohozyajstvennyh I Biologicheskih Nauk Akademii Nauk TadzhSSR. 1961;1(4):24-48.

Steshenko AP. Rhythm of the development of Pamir plants in connection with differences in environmental conditions. Problemy Sovremennoj Botaniki. 1965;2:111-15.

Agakhanjanz O, Breckle SW. Origin and evolution of the mountain flora in Middle Asia and neighbouring mountain regions. In: Chapin FS, Körner C, Eds. Arctic and Alpine Biodiversity Vol. 113. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. 1995;p.63-80. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78966-3_5

Saboiev SS. Biological productivity of the Pamirs meadow phytocenosises. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk TadzhSSR. Otd Biol Nauk. 1986;3(104):30-34.

Rakhimov S. Features of ontogeny some representatives of the flora semi-savannas to the Western Pamir-Alai. Diss Doct Sci Novosibirsk: CSBG SB RAS; 2007.

Noroozi J. Plant biogeography and vegetation of high mountains of Central and South-West Asia. Plant and Vegetation. Vol. 17. Switzerland: Springer Cham; 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45212-4

Harper JL. Population biology of plants. London: Acad Press; 1977.

Schemske DW. Plant populations. Perspectives on plant population ecology. Science. 1985;227(4685):405-06. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.227.4685.405

Uranov ??. Age spectrum of phytocoenopopulations as a function of time and energy wave processes. Biologicheskiye Nauki. 1975;2:7-34.

Zaugol'nova LB, Zhukova LA, Komarov AS, Smirnova OV, editors Serebryakova TI, Sokolova TG. Coenopopulations of plants (essays on population biology). Moscow: Nauka; 1988.

Zhukova LA. Population life of meadow plants. Yoshkar-Ola: Lanar; 1995.

Pojarkova AI. Genus Nepeta L. (Lamiaceae). In: Shishkin BK, Yuzepchuk SV, Eds. Flora of USSR. Vol. 20. Moskva-Leningrad: Nauka. 1954;286-360.

Budantzev AL. Tribe of Nepeteae Benth. Family Lamiaceae Lindl. (systematic, geography, possibility of use). Diss Doct Sci., St. Petersburg: Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; 1993.

Astashenkov AYu. Morphological adaptation of Nepeta pamirensis Franch. (Lamiaceae) to the conditions of the Pamir mountains. Contemp Probl Ecol. 2015;8(5):636-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1134/S1995425515050029

Gatsuk LE, Smirnova OV, Vorontzova LI, Zaugolnova LB, Zhukova LA. Age states of plants of various growth forms: A review. Journal of Ecology. 1980;68:675-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2259429

Zhukova LA. Diversity of ontogenic pathways in plant populations. Russ J Ecol. 2001;32(30):151-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1011301909245

Smirnova OV, Palenova MM, Komarov AS. Ontogeny of different life forms of plants and specific features of age and spatial structure of their populations. Russ J Dev Biol. 2002;33(1):1-10. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013889926529

Komarov AS, Palenova MM, Smirnova OV. The concept of discrete description of plant ontogenesis and cellular automata models of plant populations. Ecological Modelling. 2003;170:427-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3800(03)00243-6

Glotov NV. On the estimation of the parameters of the age structure of plant populations. In: Zhukova LA, Glotov NV, Zhivotovsky LA, editors Zhukova LA, Glotov NV. Life of Populations in Heterogeneous Environment. Part 1. Yoshkar-Ola: Mari-El periodicals. 1998;146-49.

Osmanova GO, Zhivotovsky LA. Ontogenetic spectrum as an indicator of the state of plant populations. Biology Bulletin. 2020;2:144-52 . http://dx.doi.org/10.1134/S1062359020020053

Zhivotovsky LA. Ontogenetic states, effective density and classification of plant populations. Russ J Ecol. 2001;21:3-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1009536128912

Kovalenko IM. The structure of populations of the herb-subshrub layer dominants in the forest phytocenoses of the Desnyansko-Starogutsky National Park. 2. Vital structure. Ukr Bot Z. 2006;63(3):376-83.

Odum Yu. Ecology. Part. 2. Moscow: Nauka; 1986.

Siegel S, Castellan NJ. Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1988. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/014662168901300212

Nukhimovskii EL. Fundamentals of biomorphology of spermous plant. Part. 1. Moscow: Nedra; 1997.

Volkov IV. Biomorphological adaptations of alpine plants. Tomsk: TGPU; 2007.

Zhmylev PYu. Life-forms of saxifrages in connection with the evolution of genus Saxifraga L. (Saxifragaceae). Bulletin of Moscow Society of Naturalists. Biological series. 2000;105(6):32-37.

Talovskaya E, Cheryomushkina V. Morphological variations of Thymus L. in the vegetation belts of the Tien-Shan mountains (Central Asia). Botany. 2022;100(6):499-508 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjb-2021-0101

Astashenkov AYu, Cheryomushkina V?, Grebenjuk AV, Dzumanov SD. Transformation of life forms and ontogenetic structure of Nepeta pulchella Pojark. coenopopulations in Acsy-Zhabaglinsky nature reserve. Contemp Probl Ecol. 2017;10(6):758-71. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1995425517060026

Cheryomushkina VA, Bobokalonov K. Life form, ontogeny and ontogenetic structure of Ziziphora suffruticosa cenopopulations in Tajikistan. Rastitel'nyj mir aziatskoj Rossii. 2020;2(38):25-33. DOI:10.21782/RMAR1995–2449–2020

Khalikov MK, Steshenko AP. Morphological and biological features of Swertia marginata in the Eastern Pamirs. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk TadzhSSR. Otd Biol Nauk. 1971;3(44):33-39.

Steshenko AP. Morphology and some data on the age and life span of perennial herbaceous plants to the Pamir meadows. Trudy Pamirskoj Biologicheskoj Stancii. 1963;1:204-42.

Shilova NV. Growth rhythms and ways of structural adaptation of tundra plants. Leningrad: Nauka; 1988.

Klimeš L. Life-forms and clonality of vascular plants along an altitudinal gradient in E Ladakh (NW Himalayas). Basic Appl Ecol. 2003;4:317-28. https://doi.org/10.1078/1439-1791-00163

Körner C. Alpine plant life: Functional plant ecology of high mountain ecosystems [e-book]. 2nd ed. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; 2003 [cited 14 Feb 2021]: Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18970-8

Körner C. Plant adaptation to cold climates [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]. F1000Research 2016; 5 (F1000 Faculty Rev):2769 [Internet]. 2016. [cited 17 Feb 2021]: Available from: https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.9107.1.

Udalova RA. Morphological analysis of some cushion-shaped cactuses. Bot Zhurn. 1978;63(2):256-63.

Kazantseva ES, Medvedev VG, Onipchenko VG. Demography of alpine short-lived plants, longevity and ontogeny stage durations. Ûg Ross.: èkol razvit. 2016;11(2):95-107. DOI: 10.18470/1992-1098-2016-2-95-107

Paton AJ. Global taxonomic investigation of Scutellaria L. and its allies (Labiatae). Diss Doct Sci. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh; 1989. Available from: https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/11239?show=full

Cheryomushkina VA. Assessment of the status of rare species coenopopulations (using the example of Allium altaicum Pall.) In: Rybczynski JJ, Puchalski JT, editors. Monographs of Botanical Gardens Vol.1. Warsaw: Bot Gad. – C Biol Div Conser. PAS. 2007;113-16.