Phytocoenitic diversity and mapping of the vegetation cover in the central part of Murmansk region

Abstract

The regularities of vegetation typological diversity in the central part of Murmansk region were revealed on the basis of field and remote sensing data using methods of statistical modeling. The map of actual vegetation of the investigated region – a basin of the Imandra Lake – was created in 1 : 200 000 scale. The ecologicalphytocoenotic approach based on the ratio of main biomorphic and ecological-phytocoenotic groups of species was applied to classify the vegetation. It is helped us to put data on primary and secondary plant communities of different ecotopic conditions in the map legend. Application of different sources of spatial data along with the methods of statistical analysis provides an opportunity to create a vegetation map as well as to identify the main factors of vegetation differentiation at the regional level. They are altitudinal climatic gradients, anthropogenic disturbances, water regime determined mainly by the topography, and natural succession of plant communities.