Plant communities on solonetz and salinized soils of the Southern Ural
A new set of data depicting plant communities on solonetz and salinized soils of the Southern Ural is given according to the Braun-Blanquet approach. The new alliance Poo bulbosae—Artemision pauciflorae which comprises associations on automorphic chestnut and chernozem solonetz soils, namely Poo bulbosae—Artemisietum pauciflorae ass. nov., Puccinellio tenuissimae—Limonietum suffruticosi ass. nov., Leymo ramosi—Artemisietum austriacae ass. nov., Festuco beckeri—Artemisietum lerchianae ass. nov., and Festuco valesiacae—Artemisietum austriacae ass. nov., is established. The alliance communities are spread in the south-easternmost part of the Bashkortostan Republic and the Orenburg region, as well as in the adjacent areas of the Northern Kazakhstan (Aktyubinsk and Kustanai regions). Viewed in the syntaxonomic space, this unit occupies the place between the classes Festuco-Puccinellietea Soó 1968 and Artemisietea lerchianae Golub 1994. Low standards of current syntaxonomic knowledge of steppe and desert plant communities of Russia and neighbouring countries make it difficult to determine of the alliance position in the system of higher syntaxa precisely. Some lower syntaxa of the all. Festuco-Limonion gmelinii Mirkin ex Golub et V. Solomakha 1988, uniting steppe plant communities on semiautomorphic solonetz soils of the Southern Ural, namely Puccinellietum tenuissimae artemisietosum lerchianae subass. nov., Stemmacantho serratuloidis—Puccinellietum dolicholepidis ass. nov., and Festuco pratensis—Artemisietum lerchianae ass. nov., are also described in the paper.