Biodiversity and Conservation of Sub-Mediterranean Landscapes of the North-Western Caucasus

Abstract

Sub-Mediterranean landscapes with high biodiversity, rare and endemic species of flora and fauna are unique for Russia, being formed on the Black Sea coast with intensive and prolonged anthropogenic effect, in the most northeastern area of Mediterranean ecosystems of Europe. The main object of this study was the Utrish Nature Reserve, which was organized in 2010 to protect these landscapes in the North-Western Caucasus. It became a model area for large-scale complex study and monitoring of sub-Mediterranean forest landscapes under current climatic changes, including their restoration after previous anthropogenic effect. Large-scale landscape and botanical maps, compiled on the field complex descriptions on sample sites, repeated observations on the model plots with special attention to vegetation, and the analysis of remote sensing data were used to identify factors of formation, structure and dynamics of vegetation and landscapes. The relationship of vegetation to abiotic conditions was determined by statistical methods. The main factors and basic regularities of the spatial organization of vegetation and landscapes, and phytocoenotic diversity were revealed on the basis of landscape and botanical maps (1:25,000 and 1:50,000) and transects. The dominance of slope geosystems and their maximum diversity, altitudinal zonality with formation of sub-Mediterranean landscapes at 0–250 m a.s.l., the asymmetry of geosystems are typical for the landscape structure, which determines the heterogeneity of vegetation. Coastal landscapes are distinguished by the more complex spatial structure and high biodiversity with rare and relict species, including a high participation of Mediterranean species. The sea–land contact zone with the predominance of abrasion types of shores is characterized by dynamism, which leads to the destruction of part of the coastal landscapes. Vegetation restoration after recreational use and fires, including a major fire in 2020, was determined based on the study of monitoring plots. Rapid formation of herb and shrub layers began after the fire, the structure of which had both similar features in different communities and differed in its specifics. The results of the research formed the basis for expanding the boundaries of the reserve in 2021 at the expense of coastal geosystems that were not previously included and the organization of monitoring.