title: [Rate of microsuccessions: Structure and floristic richness recovery after sod transplantation in alpine plant communities].
abstract: Reciprocal transplantations of sod pieces have been conducted in alpine plant communities of the northwestern Caucasus. During 25 years, the changes in floristic richness and successional rates have been registered. Study objects were chosen to be. plant communities located along the toposequence from ridges to hollows with gradient of snow. cover thickness increase and vegetation period decrease, namely alpine lichen heath (ALH), Festuca varia grasslands (FVG), Geranium-Hedysarum meadows (GHM), and snow bed communities (SBC). The results of the study confirm the hypothesis about floristic richness of transplanted pieces to come closer to that of a background acceptor community. It is shown that during succession the variability reduces if sod pieces from different communities are transplanted into a common one. In particular, this is evident in case of SBC, where floristic richness of sod pieces transplanted from ALH and GHM has reduced noticeably. Also, it is evident from the results that the more different are donor and acceptor communities the higher is the rate of their changing. However, the assumption of higher succession rate in more productive communities has not been affirmed. On the opposite, communities with initially low productivity turned out to change faster than those with high productivity. It is found out that sod pieces transplanted to upper areas of the toposequence have had higher rate of alteration in comparison with those transplanted to lower areas. The reason behind this, as it may be suggested, is a longer growth season, which means a more prolonged period of high functional activity, and, accordingly, more time for the effects of competition, bringing seeds over, etc. In whole, the rate of succession decreases as the time from the moment of transplantation.increases, especially in communities with low productivity.
authors: A M
authors: AM
authors: Kipkeev
authors: O V
authors: OV
authors: Cherednichenko
authors: D K
authors: DK
authors: Tekeev
authors: V G
authors: VG
authors: Onipchenko
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D017753:Ecosystem; D007887:Fabaceae / Q000502:physiology; D058865:Introduced Species; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D012621:Seasons