Alien flora in a boreal region of European Russia
Kostroma Oblast is in the central part of European Russia, between 57o160’ and 59o370’ latitude and between 40o230’ and 47o380’ longitude and is located mostly in the Upper Volga River basin. Approximately 70 % of the region is covered with coniferous and secondary mixed forest and the region has a temperate continental climate. An assessment of the alien vascular plants in the Kostroma Oblast region was conducted using a dataset of literature published from 1866-2000 and field observations made between 2011-2020. Among the 1 200 vascular taxa listed for this region, 330 are neophytes, including 125 casual and 172 naturalized species, with 21 species considered invasive (Table 1). 33 casual species previously recorded for the region are no longer found. Naturalized alien plants made up approximately 14% of the vascular flora of Kostroma Oblast. Elodea canadensis, Erigeron canadensis, Heracleum pubescens, Lupinus polyphyllus, and Matricaria discoidea are the most widely distributed invasive species across the region.
Table 1. Twenty-one invasive plant taxa considered invasive in Kostroma Oblast (RU) (* = species on the EPPO List of Invasive Alien Plants and ** = species on the EPPO Observation List).
Species/Taxa | Family | Form |
Acer negundo | Sapindaceae | tree |
Amelanchier spicata* | Rosaceae | shrub |
Aronia × mitschurinii | Rosaceae | shrub |
Bidens frondosa** | Asteraceae | annual |
Echinocystis lobata | Cucurbitaceae | annual |
Elodea canadensis | Hydrocharitaceae | aquatic |
Epilobium ciliatum subsp. adenocaulon | Onagraceae | perennial |
Epilobium pseudorubescens | Onagraceae | perennial |
Erigeron annuus | Asteraceae | annual, biennial |
Erigeron canadensis | Asteraceae | annual |
Heracleum pubescens | Apiaceae | biennial, perennial |
Hippophae rhamnoides | Elaeagnaceae | shrub |
Impatiens parviflora | Balsaminaceae | annual |
Juncus tenuis | Juncaceae | perennial |
Lupinus polyphyllus* | Fabaceae | perennial |
Matricaria discoidea | Asteraceae | annual |
Sambucus racemosa | Adoxaceae | shrub |
Schedonorus arundinaceus | Poaceae | perennial |
Solidago canadensis* | Asteraceae | perennial |
Symphyotrichum x salignum | Asteraceae | perennial |
Zizania latifolia | Poaceae | perennial |
Sources
Leostrin A, Pergl J (2021) Alien flora in a boreal region of European Russia: an example of Kostroma oblast. Biological Invasions. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02589-2