Salt marsh flora and vegetation of the Russian Arctic coasts

Abstract

The flora of open coasts and the estuaries of rivers is an important element of the Arctic flora and represents the littoral halophytic floristic complex. The salt marsh flora includes 113 species of vascular plants (12% of the total amount of Arctic flora), belonging to 62 families. Due to geographical conditions, the partial floras of coastal wetlands of the Russian Arctic have similar taxonomic and typological structure. In the geographical structure of flora-coenotic complex, the Arctic circumpolar species dominate. The Arctic coastlines are subjected to frequent disturbances associated with frost action, storms and ice pressure ridges that affect species richness and the ability of human populations to exploit coastal resources successfully. The dynamic changes of salt-marsh plant communities are site-specific: 1) in the initial stages, vegetation development mostly depends on the physical-chemical substrate properties and tidal action, 2) the spatial-temporal processes of successional change over a long time result in the environment development and changes in edaphic conditions. The time scale of these changes brought about by disturbances is biologically important as there must be sufficient time to allow genetic adaptation in plant and animal populations.

The distribution and utility of sea‐level indicators in Eurasian sub‐Arctic salt marshes (White Sea, Russia)

“…Sergienko et al . ; Sergienko ). Elevations below mean tide level (MTL) are composed of unvegetated subtidal and tidal flat environments where fine‐grained, clastic sediment is deposited.…”

Vegetation and ecological characteristics of the northernmost salt marshes of the European continent

“…This vegetation is not known in the Arctic zone, the area of Eleochariteum uniglumis is confined to the Boreal zone. For instance, Sergienko (), within the whole Eurasian coasts of the Arctic Ocean recorded it only along the White Sea, which is not the part of the Arctic zone (Walker et al 2017). From the Barents Sea in northern Norway, Eleocharis uniglumis was noted by Nordhagen () from the Munkelv estuary (south of our study area) in brackish marshes.…”

“…There are no signs of eutrophication as in the salt marshes of the Baltic or North Sea (Rönnberg and Bonsdorff , Skogen et al ). Last but not least, the impact of global climate change is also undetectable, although according to many studies (Pearson et al ) the Arctic ecosystems are precisely where the effects are most apparent. The salt marshes of Arctic Norway can be still considered as islands in time.…”

“…The diversity of salt marsh communities of the Barents Sea coasts is lower than that of the communities with Arctic circumpolar species (cf. Sergienko ).…”

“…More up-to date contributions were published regarding the Kola Peninsula (Koroleva et al 2011) and the White Sea coast by Babina (2002). According to Sergienko (2013) Sergienko 2013).…”