Vol 108, No 8 (2023)

Studies of Thermopsis mongolica, a poisonous perennial herbaceous plant with a long rhizome, which spreads rapidly in grazing meadow and steppe phytocenoses of the Altai Republic, were conducted. In permanently grazed pastures, the thermopsis is not eaten by cattle and, with reduced competition from other species, quickly spreads and invades the territory due to a large number of growing rhizomes. Due to vegetative propagation, the main maximum in T. mongolica cenopopulations is represented by virginal ramets, the second one y middle-aged or old generative ramets. With increasing anthropogenic pressure, the share of virginal ramets and the cenopopulation density increase. In the communities disturbed by cattle grazing with the stage III of pasture digression, thermopsis co-dominates and makes an aspect in the herbaceous layer. In such cenopopulations, the thermopsis density increases from 24.8 to 131.2 ramets per m². Generative shoots in this case reach the maximum morphometric parameters, power and productivity. Continuous grazing until complete failure (stage IV) leads to rapid aging of T. mongolica plants and accumulation of old ramets. In the ontogenetic spectra, the second maximum is shifted to the ramets of the postgenerative period. Due to constant trampling and soil compaction, the density of T. mongolica decreases to 6.5–4.6 ramets per m². Thus, the anthropogenic load, if not destructive, leads to weakening of interspecific competition, which enables T. mongolica to increase rapidly the organismal and population indices and to realize its reactive properties.

The article deals with the first finding of Urospora wormskioldii in the White Sea. Information on the morphology of U. wormskioldii and the conditions of its growth is presented. The species entry into the White Sea is discussed.

The article presents data on the discovery of two rare species in the Unya River basin (Northern Urals), on the territory of the complex reserve “Uninsky”. Since 1994, it has been part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site “Virgin Komi Forests”. As a result of research in 2022, the taxon Astragalus karelinianus, new for the Northern Urals, was identified. And the presence of Alyssum lenense Adams in the flora of the European Northeast of Russia was confirmed. Relict locations of both taxa on the rocks of the Unya River are the northernmost in the Urals.

The paper presents the results of a retrospective analysis of the history of the formation of the macrophyte herbarium of Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of RAS (IBSS, Sevastopol, until 1963 – Sevastopol Biological Station, SBS). For the analysis, the electronic database of the herbarium, sources and archival materials published over a period of more than a hundred years, memoirs of the oldest employees of the SBS were used. Three stages of the herbarium fund formation were distinguished, its beginning dating back to 1878. The first herbarium specimens were collected and designed by S.M. Pereyaslavtseva, the first Russian female zoologist and the first head of the SBS. According to archival data, by the beginning of the World War II, the herbarium contained about 3 000 herbarium sheets; like all museum collections of the SBS, it burned down in 1942. The beginning of its restoration dates back to 1945, today it contains 30914 sheets of 715 species and 198 genera from 734 localities, it is included in the international herbarium database Index Herbariorum (its acronym is SIBS). The paper summarizes the data on collection sites in the Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific, Indian and Southern Oceans. The historical collections of famous algologists N.V. Morozova-Vodyanitskaya (collection from 1920 to 1931) and A.A. Kalugina-Gutnik (from 1960 to 1991), and of a collector of the Karadag Biological Station G.M. Stanilovsky (from 1924 to 1946) are characterized; they account for 71% of the total volume of the fund. It is shown that the key macroalgae of the Black Sea are represented by collections for more than half a century from the same locality (Phyllophora crispa (Hudson) P.S. Dixon, Ericaria crinita (Duby) Molinari et Guiry, Gongolaria barbata (Stackhouse) Kuntze, Ulva rigida C. Agardh, etc.). There are unique macroalgae specimens from the underwater uplifts of the Mediterranean Sea, 14 islands and atolls of the Seychelles archipelago, the islands of Antarctica, of the seagrasses of the Indian Ocean, whose localities are not found in the herbaria of the world. To expand access to the herbarium fund, it is necessary to export data to the global bank and the global biodiversity information system (GBIF). On the basis of the studies performed, a rationale was prepared of naming the herbarium of macrophytes of world ocean IBSS after A.A. Kalugina-Gutnik (1929–1994), taking into account her significant contribution to the preservation of scientific heritage and traditions, and the creation of the collection fund.