ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLEUROZIUM SCHREBERI (BRYOPHYTA, HYLOCOMIACEAE) ON THE EAST EUROPEAN PLAIN AND EASTERN FENNOSCANDIA

Abstract

Pleurozium schreberi is one of the most common moss species in the forest area. It is the dominant in the forests of blueberry and Oxalis types. It can occur in small quantities in almost all types of forests, even in bogs. It is also a typical component of the moss layer in the tundra. The article deals with the spread of P. schreberi in the territory of the East European plain and Eastern Fennoscandia. On the basis of the literature sources on the occurrence of the species in different regions, according to point data, a model map of the species distribution using the kriging method was created. Overlaying the model map and the maps of spatial distribution of climatic parameters and the map of vegetation zones, the biogeographic preferences of the species were found out. P. schreberi is characterized by the greatest distribution in the Forest zone. Here its occurrence is high and it is phytocoenotical active species. The occurrence of P. schreberi decrease sharply in the transition from the Forest to Steppe zone. Here it is already a rare species, growing exclusively in pine and birch pegs. In the open Steppe this species disappears. Starting from the steppe zone and further to the South, the occurrence of P. schreberi decrease gradually, as the temperatures increase and decrease in precipitation, as well as forest extinction. In the North, where the species is highly active, its range abruptly ends on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. This distribution of P. schreberi is associated with both coenotic preferences and due to climate – it becomes rare in regions with summer temperatures above +23°C and rainfall of less than 400 mm per year.