The succession system of the Samara botanical and geographical region (district boundaries and territorial structure)

Abstract

Samara district is one of the districts allocated by S.M. Razumovsky in the scheme of botanical and geographical zoning. This area geographically delineates the area of the successional system of broad-leaved forests with key species Tilia cordata, Quercus robur, Acer platanoides, Ulmus glabra. S.M. Razumovsky outlined the boundaries of the district on a small-scale scheme and provided a list of guiding species. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief description of the area, outline its boundaries and identify the features of the territorial structure of vegetation cover. The material was scientific publications on the structure of the vegetation cover of the territory under consideration. The Samara Region covers the eastern part of the East European Plain to the east of the Volga River, including the Volga region and the Urals, as well as the western slope of the Southern Urals. The territorial structure of the succession system can be represented in the form of two structural parts the core and the periphery. The core of the system is shifted to the northeast, occupies the space of the forest zone and the northern part of the forest-steppe. The periphery covers the space of the forest-steppe zone and the northern part of the steppe zone. In the core of the succession system, zonal vegetation is formed by associations of shade broad-leaved forests with linden as an edifier, on the periphery there are associations of light broad-leaved (oak) forests.