Russia is an amazing, majestic and multifaceted country, striking with the beauties of nature. Every corner of our country is real abode different representatives of flora and fauna. vegetable and animal world Russia is represented in the vast expanses of the taiga, in the royal mountains of the Urals, in the crystal waters of lakes and seas. In terms of quantity and diversity, the inhabitants of the wild are several times superior to European ones.

From tundra to forest: diversity of flora

In such an extremely large country as Russia, the plant world is represented in an extraordinary variety. The tundra is rich in mosses and shrubs. In its southern part, you can find a fairly large number of dwarf birches and willows, low grasses, cranberries, bilberries and blueberries. Closer to the north, the advantage of lichens and mosses increases. The harsh taiga is represented by such plant species that are able to withstand the cold. Pines, firs, maples and larches are best adapted to harsh conditions. Broad-leaved maple, linden, and aspen grow in the southern part of the taiga. Due to the lack of lighting, moss covers the soil of the taiga. Also here you can find shrubs of plants such as currant, honeysuckle, juniper.

In the woods steppe zone in such a vast country as Russia, the plant world is rich. Oak, birch, aspen, and maple grow here. In the steppe zone, you can find feather grass, fescue, and wormwood. The shrub family is represented by spirea and caragana. Lichens and mosses grow in extremely large numbers. Due to the fact that most of the steppe is plowed up, there is very little local vegetation left.

A very rich flora is characteristic of the Far Eastern region of our country. Among the trees and shrubs, plants such as linden and maple predominate. A unique feature of local forests is vines, which include lemongrass, vineyards, actinidia.

In the Caucasus, oak and beech forests are represented, and there you can also find Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean species of pine, juniper, Pitsunda pine.

The Amur basin is one of the richest biomes in a country like Russia. Vegetable world here, unlike the rest of the southern borders of the country, there are no barriers to the resettlement of various representatives of the flora.

arctic zone

The Arctic and the tundra have their own separate floristic and faunal complexes. They are distinguished by originality in ecological terms, as they inhabit habitats that are extreme in terms of conditions. Plants are characterized by a very short growing season, which is due to sudden changes in illumination, frozen ground and low temperatures. Predominate in arctic tundra such representatives of the plant world as mosses, lichens, shrubs.

"Polar oasis"

This nickname is given to the Ion Islands, where an extremely large number of flowering plants that paint the meadows with colorful paints. Also here you can find fern thickets, a variety of mosses. In places where sea gulls accumulate, the soil is well fertilized, so the vegetation is distinguished by many species: large-flowered chamomile, cold eyebright, sorrel, buttercup, and others.

The relevance of the issue of conservation of species diversity

Despite its wealth, the flora and fauna of Russia constantly faces obstacles that threaten the disappearance of some of its representatives. This fact overshadows the pride in such an abundance and diversity of flora and fauna. Many species of plants and animals cause great commercial excitement among poachers. The most expensive source is under threat wood material in the world. Sable, squirrel and mink have expensive fur, as a result of which they are subjected to mass slaughter. The greed and greed of people daily reduces the number of plants and animals. In view of this, the protection of the flora of Russia is currently extremely topical issue. Everyone should appreciate natural heritage our country. Day after day, the plant resources of the world and Russia are declining, so it is necessary to prevent their destruction in every possible way.

Measures for the protection of nature

In order to preserve the diversity of the flora and fauna of Russia, as well as rare and endangered species of plants and animals, a number of laws and regulations on protection have been adopted in our country. environment. Effective measures have been developed to curb the activities of poachers and punish violators. The active nature reserves and reserves are especially effective in protecting nature. To date, there are about one hundred and fifty such protected areas. They allow you to save rare species plants and animals in their natural environment a habitat.

By systematizing data on typical representatives of various climatic zones, information can be summarized.

Flora of Russia: table

Thus, due to the huge spatial difference in a country like Russia, the plant world is represented in a wide variety. In terms of species abundance, the inhabitants of flora and fauna significantly exceed the countries of Europe.

Plants play a huge role in human life. Plants are all around us. There are about 500 thousand plant species on the globe. Every day we eat herbal products: White bread- from wheat seeds, black bread - from rye seeds; potatoes - tuberous nightshade tubers; tea - broth from the leaves of an evergreen tea tree (or shrub); jelly, jam, sweets - from fruits and berries various plants; sugar - from sugar beet roots or from sugar cane; cereals - from the seeds of buckwheat, millet, corn, wheat.

And how many different types of trees are involved in creating the atmosphere of any room! We sit at a wooden table, on wooden chairs, write with a wooden pencil and look out the window, which has wooden frames and a window sill.

We wear clothes made from cotton, linen and viscose fabrics, and they are made from plant materials.

Plants can be found in the most unexpected places; so, for example, algae sometimes settle between the horn and metal part of the spectacle frame. Some of them live in the fur of animals, such as sloths, and even give the color of animals a special shade.

Without plants, neither people nor animals can exist: after all, only in a green plant, under the influence of sunlight, is formed from inorganic substances organic matter.

With the formation of organic matter (starch), oxygen is released, which is necessary for respiration. People use this property of green plants by creating gardens and parks, planting trees and shrubs in the streets of cities and towns.

Among higher plants There are species that are harmful to agriculture. These are weeds that clog crops: cockle, wild radish - in oat crops; blue cornflower and bluegrass field - in rye, etc. They take away moisture and food from cultivated plants, shade crops, worsen the quality of bread and reduce their yield. However, weeds can also be beneficial. Some weeds medicinal plants: blue cornflower, shepherd's purse, horsetail, ergot and many others.

Weeds must be cleared of cultivated crops and plantings, and medicinal plants from weeds must be bred in specially designated areas.

Wild plants have served as the source material for the creation of many cultivated species. Wheat, cotton, corn, potatoes, vegetables have a long and interesting story transformation from wild to cultivated. Man unrecognizably changed them and adapted them to his needs. Some ancient crops, such as corn, are no longer found in the wild.

The creation of new cultivated plants is happening all the time. This work developed especially widely on the basis of the works of I. V. Michurin.

Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin bred over 300 new varieties of fruit and berry plants for middle lane European part of the USSR. Continuing his work, Soviet scientists create new varieties of wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, cotton, flax, vegetables, fruit trees. They develop new varieties with the properties and qualities that a person needs.

The population of the far North did not know the taste of vegetables and potatoes. Their cultivation in the harsh conditions of the North was considered tsarist Russia impossible. In Chukotka, for example, there are only 45 days a year without frost. Cabbage and tomatoes take 80 to 120 days to ripen. It seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. However, Soviet scientists have found a way out: they breed early-ripening varieties of vegetable crops and reduce their ripening time.

In addition, potatoes are vernalized and planted in the ground already with green sprouts. Radishes, onions, cabbage, beets, carrots and potatoes are grown at the Tiksi Bay Experimental Station.

Many research institutes, experimental stations and strongholds in the villages of the Far North are engaged in the advancement of vegetables to the north.

PLANTS WILD AND CULTURAL. AREAL. PLANT COMMUNITY

All plants can be divided into two groups: wild and cultivated. Most of the Earth's surface is covered with wild plants. These territories are partly used by people for hayfields, pastures for livestock, and logging.

Each plant requires certain natural conditions: light, humidity, temperature, soil. Therefore, certain plants are found in a more or less limited area, which is called an area. The shape and size of the range, in addition to the conditions necessary for a given plant species, also depend on the history earth's surface, biological features plants, mechanical obstacles to the spread of fruits or seeds, and other reasons.

There are plants that are very widespread on the earth's surface. Their range is almost the entire land. Such plants include reeds, lake reeds, plantain, etc. In addition, within their range, plants are mostly found in combination with other specific plants, that is, they are part of a particular plant community (association or association).

A plant community is not a random, but a natural combination of plants that has been created over a long time under the influence of the environment.

VEGETATION AND FLORA

All plant communities any particular locality constitute its vegetation.

Young readers sometimes mistakenly believe that flora and vegetation are words meaning the same concept. Meanwhile, these words are scientific terms, and they have a strictly defined meaning. Flora is the totality of all plant species found in a particular area. For example, the flora of the Caucasus has over 5,700 plant species, while the flora of the USSR has about 18,000 species.

There is a close relationship between climate, soil, vegetation and wildlife. Geographical zones clearly show these connections.

Vegetation influences surrounding nature, changes the soil, moisture and other conditions of its habitat. Changed conditions, in turn, lead to the replacement of one type of vegetation by another, better adapted to the new conditions. Vegetation also changes under the influence of climate change.

Vegetation in the mountains is located in belts. The change of belts resembles the change of zones on the plain. In the mountains, the vegetation changes from a more southern type to a more northern type. So, in the mountains of the forest zone below there is a belt deciduous forests, higher - coniferous forests, and at the top - mountain tundra.

In the mountainous countries above there is a very special type of vegetation, which is not found anywhere on the plains - alpine vegetation, or alpine meadows.

Five zones of vegetation are distinguished on the globe: tundra, forest (temperate), steppe, desert, and tropical.

The term "biosphere" was proposed in 1875 by the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess (1831-1914), but his exact definition he didn't give. Half a century later, the Russian geochemist V.I. Vernadsky (1863-1945) created the doctrine of the biosphere, the main provisions of which he outlined in a small brochure published in 1926 called "Biosphere". IN AND. Vernadsky called the biosphere the shell of the Earth, the main role in the formation of which belongs to living organisms.

The most important distinguishing features of plants are the presence of dense cell walls, the absorption of food by absorption, reproduction and settlement by spores or seeds; starch is usually used as a reserve substance. Other character traits plants (an attached way of life, unlimited growth, peculiar development cycles, ways of laying organs, etc.) are not common to all groups of plants, but the whole complex of features as a whole makes it easy to distinguish plants from representatives of other kingdoms. Populating the surface of the land, covering large areas of arid deserts and marshy swamps, penetrating into the depths of fresh and salt water bodies, rising high into the mountains, plants form communities, or phytocenoses, in which representatives of other kingdoms live.

In addition to the huge planetary significance, green plants play an important role in human life. Many of them have long been used as food, feed, medicinal, technical. Plants are a source of fuel building materials, raw materials for industry. The plant world, numbering about 400 thousand species, is conditionally divided into two groups - lower and higher plants.

The lower plants that arose about 2 billion years ago include the most simply arranged representatives of the plant world - algae.

Flora

plant organic flora photosynthesis

The study of the patterns of geographical distribution of plants has great importance for the knowledge of the laws of evolution of the plant world.

The study of plant ranges is important both for understanding the dependence of their distribution on modern conditions, and for reconstructing the history of the distribution of species and the formation of floras. The features of the range of each species are mainly determined by climatic conditions; details of distribution often depend on soil conditions, as well as on the adaptability of the nature of plants to the conditions of certain phytocenoses (for example, plants taiga forests, raised bogs, etc.). When studying the ranges of genera (especially those rich in species), the uneven distribution of species within the genus range is revealed. Part of the latter where it concentrates the largest number species, often called the center of distribution of the genus. In certain cases, this "center" may coincide with the territory of the initial development of the studied genus (the center of origin). In other cases, the abundance of species indicates the flowering of the genus, achieved relatively recently due to any favorable conditions for it (secondary centers). Thus, the study of the ranges of genera and taxonomically larger groups is important for understanding their history.

Flora study the globe requires accounting for all types of plants (practically higher plant species - seed and fern-like) growing in the territory whose flora is chosen as the object of study (mainland, island, state or part of it, botanical-geographical region). An indicator of the richness of the flora is the total number of plant species (in commensurate territories). In view of the impossibility of comparing floras in territories that differ sharply in size, a number of formulas have been proposed to calculate the flora richness coefficient based on the number of species and the area of ​​the country (region and others). Some botanists, in order to compare floras, use the data of botanical-geographical regions with the minimum area (concrete or elementary floras). In the high Arctic regions, the number of species of specific floras ranges from 20 to 90-100. In the taiga zone, it varies from 450 to 700, in the zone deciduous forests reaches 1000 species, on the coast mediterranean sea and in Transcaucasia - 1300-1500 species. In rich forests tropical countries this number rises to 2000, reaching 3000 in some areas of Brazil. A marked decrease in the number of species is noted on oceanic islands, as well as in high mountain regions (often combined with a great originality species composition flora).

The composition of each flora includes species that are different in time of their occurrence, penetrated into a given space at different times, occupying in the composition of the flora different position. Some species, by their nature, only partially correspond modern conditions existence and are on the way to extinction; species representing the remnants of past floras are called relics. In contrast to them are the progressive elements of the flora - species that have recently developed in a given country or have recently penetrated its borders and are in the process of settling. The third category is represented by conservative species - plants that have long and firmly established themselves in a given country (which brings them closer to relics), but by their nature are fully consistent with its modern conditions and therefore prosperous (which brings them closer to progressive elements). Often they occupy a predominant place in the composition of the vegetation cover. Floras rich in relict elements are sometimes referred to as relict floras.

An analysis of flora, a comparative study of the ranges of its constituent species and genera, combined, where possible, taking into account paleobotanical data, serve as the basis for florogenetic studies, the purpose of which is to elucidate the process of formation of floras, transformations in their composition, and relationships between floras that change during the history of the Earth. These studies are based on data from historical geology, and in some cases (for example, when solving questions about ancient connections between continents) they are used to correct geological hypotheses.

Today we will continue our acquaintance with the natural zones of our planet. The theme of our tour will be places where camels slowly walk, and the wind and the scorching sun are the undivided masters. Let's talk about deserts.

Here, among the sands and heat, there is its own flora and fauna, people live and work. What are features this zone?

Where are the deserts

Deserts are areas with continental climate and sparse vegetation. Such places can be found on all continents except Europe. They stretch across temperate zone Northern Hemisphere and in the subtropics and tropics of both hemispheres.

The largest deserts are the Sahara, Victoria, Karakum, Atacama, Nazca, and the Gobi desert.

Russian deserts are located in the east of Kalmykia and in the south of the Astrakhan region.

Climate features

The main features of the climate of this zone are high daytime temperatures and extremely dry air. During the day, the content of water vapor in the atmosphere is 5–20%, which is several times lower than the norm. Deserts are the driest South America. The main reason - almost complete absence of rain. In some places, they fall no more than once every few months or even several years. Sometimes abundant rain streams fall on the dry, heated ground, but evaporate instantly, without having time to saturate the soil.

Often these places are "dry rain" From the rain clouds that form, ordinary rain drops, but colliding with heated air, they evaporate without reaching the ground. Snowfall is rare here. Only in individual cases snow cover reaches a thickness of more than 10 cm.

In this natural area daytime temperatures can rise to +50°C, while at night they can drop to 0°C. In the northern regions, the thermometer can drop to minus 40 °C. For these reasons, the desert climate is considered continental.

Often, residents and tourists become witnesses of amazing optical phenomena- mirages. At the same time, tired travelers see in the distance oases with life-giving moisture, wells with drinking water…. But all this is an optical illusion caused by the refraction of the sun's rays in the heated layers of the atmosphere. As they approach these objects, they move away from the observer. To get rid of these optical illusions, you can make a fire. The smoke creeping along the ground quickly dispels this haunting vision.

Relief features

Most of the surface of the deserts is covered with sand and the wild wind becomes the "culprit" sandstorms. At the same time, they rise above the surface of the earth huge masses of sand. The sandy curtain erases the line of the horizon, outshines the bright sunlight. Hot air mixed with dust makes breathing difficult.

After 2-3 days, the sand settles. And before the eyes of others, a renewed surface of the desert appears. In some places, rocky areas are exposed, or vice versa, new dunes appear against the background of frozen sandy waves. In the relief of the deserts there are small hills, alternating with plains, ancient river valleys and depressions from once existing lakes.

Deserts tend to light soil color thanks to the lime accumulated in it. The reddish color of the soil has surface areas containing an excess amount of iron oxides. Fertile soil layer - humus is almost absent. Except sandy deserts, there are zones with stony, clay and solonchak soil.

Vegetable world

In most deserts precipitation falls in spring and winter. Moist soil is literally transformed. In a few days, it blooms with a wide variety of colors. The duration of flowering depends on the abundance of precipitation and on the soil of the area. Local residents and tourists come to admire the bright beautiful flower carpet.

The heat and lack of moisture soon return the desert to its normal state, where only the most resilient plants can grow.

Tree trunks are most often strongly curved. The most common plant in this area is saxaul bushes. They grow in groups, forming small groves. However, do not look for shadows under their crowns. Instead of the usual foliage, the branches are covered with small scales.

How does this shrub survive in such arid soils? Nature has provided them with mighty roots that go into the ground to a depth of 15 meters. And another desert plant - camel-thorn its roots can get moisture from a depth of up to 30 meters. The thorns or very small leaves of desert plants allow them to expend moisture very economically when evaporating.

Among the various cacti growing in the desert, there is Echinocactus Gruzoni. The juice of this one and a half meter plant perfectly quenches thirst.

In the South African desert there is a very amazing flower - fenestraria. Only a few of its leaves are visible on the surface of the earth, but its roots are like a tiny laboratory. It is in it that the production nutrients thanks to which this plant even blooms underground.

One can only wonder at the adaptability of plants to the extreme conditions of the desert.

Animal world

IN daytime heat the desert really seems devoid of all life. Only occasionally there is a nimble lizard, but some bug is in a hurry about its business. But with the onset of night coolness, the desert comes to life. Small and large enough animals crawl out of their shelters to replenish food supplies.

How do animals escape the heat? Some burrow into the sand. Already at a depth of 30 cm the temperature is 40°C lower than on the ground. This is exactly how the kangaroo jumper behaves, which manages not to get out of its underground shelter for several days. In its minks stocks of grains are stored, which absorb moisture from the air. They also satisfy his hunger and thirst.

Close "canine relatives" of jackals and coyotes from the heat saves rapid breathing and protruding tongue.

Saliva evaporating from the tongue cools these curious animals well. African foxes, hedgehogs radiate excess heat with large ears.

Long legs ostriches and camels help to escape from the hot sand, because they are high enough above the ground, and there the temperature is lower.

In general, the camel is more adapted to life in the desert than other animals. Thanks to his wide, callused feet, he can walk on hot sand without getting burned or falling through. And its thick and dense coat prevents the evaporation of moisture. Fat accumulated in the humps, if necessary, is processed into water. Although without water, he may well live for more than two weeks. And in food, these giants are not picky - they chew a camel thorn for themselves, and even branches of saxaul or acacia are already a luxury in a camel diet.

Desert insects "thought of" reflecting the scorching sun's rays the surface of your body.

If this message was useful to you, I would be glad to see you