Collembola of forest tundra ecosystems of the Sula (Malozemelskaya tundra) and Bolshaya Rogovaya (Bolshezemelskaya tundra) rivers

Study Extent

The dataset provides information on the number of individuals of springtail species in soil cores collected in forest tundra biome located in the basins of the Sula (Malozemelskaya tundra) and Bolshaya Rogovaya (Bolshezemelskaya tundra) rivers.

Sampling

On the territory of the Sula river basin six plots were studied. They are floodplain and mixed grass meadows, birch spruce forest, dwarf shrub lichen, dwarf shrub grass and dwarf birch tundra. On the territory of the Bolshaya Rogovaya river 11 sites were studied. They are: association with Equisétum, herb-grass, grass and tall-grass meadows, Juniper community, willows, different types of birch and spruce forests, which are situated in the floodplain of the river. The other five sites are located in the plain and presented by the next plant communities: sedge association, palsa mires, birch forest, dwarf shrub lichen and dwarf shrub moss lichen tundra.

Quality Control

Different keys and particular taxonomis articles were used (Fjellberg, 1998, 2007; Potapov, 2001 and others). All specimens were identified to species by specialist from the Institute of Biology of Komi Scientific Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Method steps

1. On the territory of the Sula river 10 soil samples of 100 cm2 were taken at each plot at a depth of the organogenic horizon of 4–10 cm. On the territory of the Bolshaya Rogovaya river 3-15 soil samples of 25 cm2 were taken at each site.

1. Arthropoda
   rank: phylum
2. Collembola
   rank: order

The Sula River is one of the Timan tributaries of the lower reaches of the Pechora river. The Timan Ridge itself stretches from the Czech Bay of the Arctic Ocean to the head of the Vychegda river in the foothills of the Urals and is a flattened ridge 950 km long with separate low ridges, located in the northeast of the East European Plain. The Bolshaya Rogovaya River originates in the northeastern tip of the Chernyshev Ridge. Its valley is a flat plain with a large number of lakes and absolute elevations of 80–100 m. The depressions and ravines of the runoff are often covered with thickets of tree-like willow and juniper. Shrub moss-lichen tundras develop on drained massivs. Separate massifs of spruce-birch light forests are confined mainly to river valleys. In 2019, the "Bolshaya Rogovaya Reserve" was created here, which performs the functions of preserving floodplain soils (Lapteva et al., 2020).