The mires flora of the Sverdlovsk Oblast

Study Extent

The presented dataset contains the results of studying the biodiversity of vascular plants in mires of the Sverdlovsk Oblast (Russia). Some additional information for region is given in the Geographic scope.

Sampling

The dataset combines two types of records: herbarium specimens and authors' field research. Authors used herbarium specimens stored in the following herbaria: the Museum of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SVER), the Ural Federal University (UFU). The territory of each mires was surveyed by the traditional route-reconnaissance method, taking into account the intra-mire hydrographic network. The earliest recorded evidence of the occurrence of vascular plants in mires in the study area in historical time dates back to 1989 and the most recent to 2021. The total number of collectors for mires flora is approximately 15 researchers.

Quality Control

The data were collected and processed by specialists from Botanical Garden of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (UB RAS), Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Method steps

1. The dataset preparation process included the following steps. 1. The first step of the study was to create a checklist of species found in the of the mires of the Sverdlovsk Oblast. The nomenclature of species was determined mainly according to the international database The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (The World Checklist of Vascular Plants: URL: https://wcvp.science.kew.org) and Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (Hassler 2004, PPG 2016). Species synonyms were removed from the checklist after checking the nomenclature.
2. 2. Nicolai Grudanov, Alyona Tretyakova, Stepan Senator, Dmitriy Philippov and Alyona Vakhrusheva developed a table structure that included 21 columns. Dataset fields’ names were chosen according to Darwin Core (Wieczorek et al. 2012) and include the following: «occurrenceID», «scientificName», «family», «kingdom», «country», «countryCode», «language», «stateProvince», «county», «verbatimLocality», «decimalLatitude», «decimalLongitude», «geodeticDatum», «habitat», «eventDate», «basisOfRecord», «recordedBy», «identifiedBy», «catalogNumber», «taxonRank», «higherGeography»
3. 3. Georeferencing was carried out using GPS and old samples using the Yandex-map service. All coordinates were converted into WGS84 datum. Most of the values in the fields “decimalLongitude' and 'decimalLatitute' were rounded to five decimal places.
4. 4. Dataset “The Checklist of the mires flora of the Sverdlovsk Oblast” was uploaded in the GBIF repository.

The flora of vascular plants of the mire includes 188 species of higher vascular plants, 123 genera, 54 families and 4 divisions: Equisetophyta (2 species), Polypodiophyta (5 families, 5 species), Pinophyta (1 family, 1 species), Magnoliophyta (48 families, 180 species). Magnoliophyta includs Magnoliopsida - 113 species and Liliopsida - 67 species.

1. Plantae
   rank: kingdom
2. Tracheophyta
   rank: phylum

Sverdlovsk Oblast is situated within the Central Urals, southern part of the Northern Urals, outskirts of the West Siberian Plain and the East European Plain. The length of the region from north to south is 660 km (N 56º03', N 61º57'), from west to east – 560 km (E 57º14', E 66º11'). The area of the Sverdlovsk region is 194.8 km2. The terrain of the Central Urals is low-mountain. In the north two large mountain uplifts lie parallelly that are divided by intermontane depression. The east dividing ridge is tracked throughout the Central Urals. The west dividing ridge has smaller length and consists of a variety of isolated mountain groups that lie in series. The largest among them is Basseghi mountain uplift gaining an altitude of 993 m. The terrain of west and east slopes of the Central Urals is steeply-sloping, hilly with ridges and low grounds. The hydrographic system is well developed and presented by many rivers and lakes. The rivers of the south-west part of the region (Choosovaya, Ufa and their tributaries) belong to the Volga-Kama basin. The other rivers (such big as Loz’va, Sos’va, Tavda, Pelym, Toora, Nitsa, Pyshma and Iset) belong to the Ob-Irtysh basin. Big rivers begin on the Urals ridge and these are mountain streams in their upstream water part. In the piedmont of the Urals there are a lot of lakes in tectonic depressions. On the hilly north-east part of the region (Tavda river basin with tributaries) there are also shallow lakes (the Pelym mist, the Vagil mist etc.) that lie among the vast area of turf swamps. Sverdlovsk oblast has a continental climate. The annual precipitation decreases from a north-western to south-eastern direction. In the mountains of the Northern Urals the amount of rain is 800–850 mm (in some places more than 1000 mm), in the Central Urals and in the western piedmonts the amount of rain is 550–650 mm. In the plain south-eastern part of the region the amount of rain is 320–350 mm. The maximum amount of rain (60–70 % of annual precipitation) happens in warm seasons. Lasting of snow cover is 150–160 days in the south and 170–180 days in the north (in the mountain of the Northern Urals snow cover lasts 180–190 days). Snow depth varies from 45–50 cm in the south-east to 70 cm in the western piedmonts and low-hill terrains of the Central Urals. In the mountains of the Northern Urals the snow depth is 90 cm and more. The average monthly temperature of the coldest month (January) varies from –16º C in the south to –18 to –19º C in the north. The average monthly temperature of the warmest month (July) varies from +17 to +18º C. The growing season length is 160–170 days in the south-western part and 110–120 days in the mountain part of the Northern Urals. Late spring and early autumn ground frosts typically occur that notably diminish the frost-free season. Accumulative positive temperatures vary from 1000°С in the northern and mountain part to 1400–1600°С in the Central part. The maximum mean is 1600–1800°С in the outermost south-eastern and south-western parts. In the north hydrothermal index is 1.6–2.0, in the centre it is 1.4–1.6, and in the outskirts south-western and south-eastern parts is 1.2–1.4. In the taiga zone of Sverdlovsk oblast ash gray soil and soddy podzolic soil are widely spread. In the southern part on the forest zone there is grey forest soil. In the outskirts south-western and south-eastern part within the forest-steppe zone and adjunct forest zone along with this type of soil leached chernozem and black degraded soil occur as well as meadow chernozemic soil. Forest vegetation prevails in the vegetation cover of Sverdlovsk oblast. On this territory all subzones of the forest (taiga) zone are presented as well as the northern subzone of the forest-steppe zone. 1) Mire Bagaryak (area 1.39 km2). The mire is lakeside, low-lying, mainly pressure ground nutrition (except for areas adjacent to the lake). Grass and grass-moss mires communities dominated by forested with pine and birch, and herbaceous communities (mainly reed and sedge) in the lakeside part. Since 2001, the mire has been fully protected as a hydrological and zoological natural monument of regional significance. 2) Mire Maloye Lake (area 1.60 km2). This is a lowland grass mire of limnogenic origin (the primary lake, Lake Maloye, has survived) with a predominance of reed-sedge, reed, sedge, sedge-grass and sedge-hypnum communities in the central part and bushy edges. Since 2001, the mire has been fully protected as a geomorphological and botanical natural monument of regional significance. 3) Mire Beryozovoe (area 0.77 km2). The southern part of the mire was subjected to drainage and peat extraction, the northern part has been preserved in its natural state and belongs to lowland peat mire. Shrubbed (mainly Betula humilis), forested and herbaceous (mainly sedge) mire areas predominate. Since 2001, the mire has been fully protected as a botanical and geomorphological natural monument of regional significance. 4) Mire Chernoe (area 5.52 km2). Mire serves as the source of the river Taushkanovka. The mire is lowland with a predominance of reed, sedge, reed-sedge, birch-grass communities. Probably, early, in the southern part of the peat mire, it was drained (traces of 5 reclamation canals from 0.7 to 1.1 km long and two small dug reservoirs were preserved), however, at present this section of the mire has been restored. Since 2001, the mire has been fully protected as a botanical and geomorphological natural monument of regional significance.