Preliminary results of the monitoring bio-ecological features of plants Fritillaria ruthenica Wikstr. in the model forest habitats of the Krasnosamarsky forest

The article presents some preliminary results of the monitoring of Fritillaria ruthenica Wikstr. plants (category of rare and endangered plant species, included in the Red Books of Russia and Samara Region). By summarizing the available sources of science literature we have compiled a general description of morphological and bio-ecological species characteristics. The results of the field study fulfilled in 2012-2014 in Krasnosamarsky forestry (Samara region) were used to determine morphometric parameters of Fritillaria ruthenica plants. The data also helped us to assess the variability level and to make a comparison with plant quantitative traits given in the literature. It was found that the shoot length of Fritillaria ruthenica plants from model biotope in Krasnosamarsky forest in 2012-2014 varied in the range of 20 ... 70 cm, in 2012 and 2013 individuals with long shoots about 50 cm dominated, in 2014 – with shoot length about 50 and 60 cm. The feature of the shoot length is characterized by plasticity, the highest level of variation was observed in 2013. The lengths of shoots are inside the range specified for the various parts of the area in the literature with a significant proportion of “tall” plants in the studied population. This may be a sign of good growth conditions for Fritillaria ruthenica that gives an opportunity to the plant conservation in natural communities in the absence of limited anthropogenic factors.