Flora differentiation among local ecotopes in the transzonal study of forest–steppe and steppe mounds

Abstract

Flora similarity was assessed using complete floristic lists of five ecotopes in each of four mounds along the transect from meadow steppes to desert steppes. It was found that the circumapical similitude of floras is more significant than the expositional similitude. Soil analysis in separate ecotopes showed that regular changes in the biogeochemical features are manifested along the topographic gradient and under the effect of the insolation exposure of slopes in local (mound) ecosystems. It was noted that the slopes are characterized by the most abundant steppe vegetation classes in the phytosociological spectrum of mound ecotopes.