Mosses of the key plot “Kuzedeyevo-Mundybash”, Shoria Mountains, Altai-Sayan Mountain region.

Mountain (Gornaya) Shoria is the southern part of the Salair-Kuznetsk upland; it is situated southward from the Tom River and is characterized by smooth relief with elevation intervals between valleys and ridges being 200-300 m, most peaks are lower than 1200 m and do not exceed the tree line. Mean annual precipitation and temperature vary from 1300-2000 mm and -1,5°C in central highmountain parts to 800 mm and +1,2°C in periphery. The prevailing type of primeval vegetation here is chernevaia taiga, the most thermophilic and humid type of forest in South Siberia. Peculiarity of vegetation of Mountain Shoria is the Kuzedeevo “Linden island” situated in North-Western part of the region. That is a forest massive with abundant Tilia sibirica in the tree layer. In South Siberia, Tilia sibirica is also known from some scattered locations in the Altai, Kuznetskiy Alatau and Salair Ridge; but in Mountain Shoria, the species is rather more common. Kuzedeevo “Linden island” is the biggest from known Tilia-forests; its size is about 18x6 km. Besides the abundance of Tilia sibirica, the community is characterized by the presence of Asarum europaeum, Festuca altissima, Galium odoratum, Geranium robertianum, Polystichum braunii, which have disjunctive distribution in Siberia and are considered here as Tertiary relicts. Due to anthropogenic pressure, chernevaia taiga is replaced by secondary birch and aspen forests in many areas.