PLANTGEOGRAPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE TUNDRA VEGETATION IN THE SOVIET UNION

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Botany
• Main Author: Tikhomirov, Boris A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1960
• Subjects: Arctic; taiga; Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b60-072; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b60-072

The tundra zone, including the forest tundra and the polar deserts, occupies about 15% of the entire surface of the U.S.S.R., or around 3 million square kilometers. If to this is added the area of open forests in the north, the territory covered will be about 35% of the Soviet Union. During the last decades, agriculture and stock raising have been introduced into the northern taiga and forest tundra, locally even into the tundra itself. It has therefore become necessary to study the northlands intensively from both the theoretical and practical viewpoints.Preliminary studies had already been done during the 18th and 19th centuries, beginning with Lomonosov and his school, and were followed by a series of expeditions by great naturalists to the north. The main research, however, took place after the October Revolution, and it was first devoted to the western parts of the tundra, but during the last decades it has spread to include also the eastern, Asiatic, parts.On the basis of theoretical research a number of flora manuals have been published, concerning the northern areas, and a series of detailed ecological maps have been edited.On the practical side, intensive investigations have been performed on natural pastures, especially with regard to reindeer management: the development and growth of the lichens have been studied and methods to utilize and improve them have been devised; air-reconnaissance has been used to establish the extent of pasture and meadow land; the biology of the northern plants has been studied, especially in connection with long-day and solifluction conditions; the ecological relationships of the plants in different associations have been worked out; the history and dispersal routes of the arctic flora have been established; and so on.On the basis of this practical knowledge of the tundra conditions, there is now a trend to utilize and improve arctic agriculture, e.g., to enlarge and improve pastures and meadow lands, and to plant trees on the parts suitable for afforestation.