Floristic division of the Arctic

• Published in: Journal of Vegetation Science
• Main Author: Yurtsev, Boris A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1994
• Subjects: Arctic; Pacific; North Atlantic; permafrost; Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3236191; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F3236191; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/3236191

Abstract: The progress in the floristic study of the circumpolar Arctic since the 1940s is summarized and a new floristic division of this region is presented. The treeless areas of the North Atlantic and North Pacific with an oceanic climate, absence of permafrost and a very high proportion of boreal taxa are excluded from the Arctic proper. It is argued that the Arctic deserves the status of a floristic region. The tundra zone and some oceanic areas are divided into subzones according to their flora and vegetation. Two groups of subzones are recognized: the Arctic group (including the Arctic tundras proper and the High Arctic) and the Hypoarctic group. The Arctic phytochorion is floristically divided into sectors: 6 provinces and 20 subprovinces reflecting the regional features of each sector in connection with flora history, physiography and continentality‐oceanity of the climate. Each sector is described and differentiated by a set of differential and co‐differential species. The peculiarities of the Arctic flora are manifest in different ways in the various sectors, and endemism is not the universal criterion for subdivision.