Popov, S.Yu. The climatic patterning of Sphagnum sect. Sphagnum species distribution in the East European Plain

Arctoa (2016) 25: 332–352

doi: 10.15298/arctoa.25.26

 

The purpose of this research is to correlate distribution of Sphagnum species with local climatic factors in the East European Plain. Six species of Sphagnum from section Sphagnum, i.e., S. magellanicum, S. centrale, S. palustre, S. papillosum, S. austinii, and S. affine were selected. The graded data on their abundance and the species number for 138 localities were mapped into unit squares of 10´10 km by  using GRID coverage, to construct several delineated zones of occurence/abundance. For analysis, the matrix was augmented by extended data from the BIOCLIM database. Regression analysis revealed strong correlation between species distribution and temperature, while abundance of the species showed high correlation with maximum relative humidity in two months, August and September, being especially high for most common species, S. magellanicum (0.85 and 0.83) and S. centrale (0.81 и 0.76). Distribution area of Sphagnum palustre is restricted by precipitation in the whole warm part of the year, while Sphagnum papillosum avoids regions with low relative humidity in early summer. The local number of species correlates with relative humidity in summer. The developed technique demonstrates a possible way of applying the climatic data to the analysis of the bryophyte distribution in extensive territories.