Ecological and floristic features of the Samara Region nature monument «Kopeyka Mountain»

The paper presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of the nature monument «Kopeyka Mountain» flora nine years after the last descriptions of this area. To identify the ecology-floristic features of the mountain, a complete ecology-floristic characteristic was given according to the classical pattern. The taxonomic analysis has showed that on the stony steppe there are 150 species of higher plants, including 106 genera and 39 families. The leading families in the number of species are Asteraceae (28 species), Fabaceae (21) and Poaceae (11). A large number of species of the Fabaceae is one of the distinguishing features of Kopeyka Mountain. The predominant biomorph under the classification of I.G. Serebryakov is a group of herbaceous perennials, namely rod-root (39 species) and short-stemmed plants (25 species). The predominance of these life forms illustrates a high adaptability of plants to the conditions of their growth. The predominant hygromorph of xerophytic plants (67 species), revealed during the ecological analysis by N.M. Matveyev, also shows high suitability of the local flora to a lack of moisture in the mountainous terrain. Ecology-geographical analysis showed that the mountain-steppe group of plants was the largest in the number of species. A chorological analysis was also conducted, which showed the presence of all seven types of areals, of which Eurasian type (73 species) and European (34) were the leading ones. Endemic (45 species) and relic (15) taxa have been noted, which raises this monument of nature to a considerable height. In the flora of Kopeyka Mountain, 8 species are represented in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation and 43 species are in the Red Data Book of the Samara Region. A decrease in the number of species in the flora of Kopeyka Mountain is a concern. It is necessary to introduce monitoring to protect the nature monument «Kopeyka Mountain».