Suragina, S.A., E.A. Ignatova, A.V. Popov, N.Yu. Stepanova & M.S. Ignatov. 2026. Mosses of the surroundings of the salty lakes Elton and Baskunchak in Cis-Caspian lowland, South-East European Russia

Arctoa (2026) 35: 84–96

doi: 10.15298/arctoa.35.08

Elton and Baskunchak Lakes were used as an important sourse of the sodium chloride for the Russian industry, especially for food, since the Middle Ages. Their peculiar environments received now a conservation status. The moss flora of these two protected territories is described. The territory around Baskunchak Lake in Astrakhan Province is more xeric than that in Elton Lake area in Volgograd Province, despite the latter is situated only 100 km northward from the former. As a result, the moss flora in most types of vegetation around the Elton Lake is more diverse, and several species occurring here are absent at the Baskunchak area. However, the moss flora of Baskunchak area includes a number of epilithic species that are absent in Elton area. Epilites grow near the Baskunchak Lake shore, on Bolshoe Bogdo Mountain, 150 m alt., the highest point in Cis-Caspian lowland, formed of sandstones continuously uplifted by a still growing salt body underneath the mountain. Numerous sinkholes and several caves in the Baskunchak area provide sheltered conditions suitable for mosses. Especially interesting are two larger caves, where ten species were found, nine of them were absent elsewhere in both Elton and Baskunchak areas. The total number of species in Baskunchak and Elton areas are 45 and 35 species, respectively, while without ‘cave species’ the diversity is about equal, 36 and 35 species. The most salt-tolerant mosses at lake shores are Pterygoneurum subsessile and Bryum bicolor.