Biodiversity Data Journal :
Data Paper (Biosciences)
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Corresponding author: Natalia Sergeevna Gamova (bg_natagamova@mail.ru)
Academic editor: Alexander Sennikov
Received: 23 Oct 2021 | Accepted: 31 Dec 2021 | Published: 06 Jan 2022
© 2022 Natalia Gamova
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Gamova NS (2022) Baikalsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve and its buffer zone: floristic data. Biodiversity Data Journal 10: e76946. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.10.e76946
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Baikalsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve is situated in the central part of the Khamar-Daban Range (Southern Baikal, Siberia), in three administrative districts of Republic of Buryatia (i.e. Kabansky District, Dzhidinsky District and Selenginsky District), Russia. In general, this territory has been relatively well studied by botanists, but until now there was no detailed information about the flora of the Reserve with precise geographic localities. Moreover, some records in the Baikalsky Reserve's flora were published without references to documenting herbarium specimens.
The dataset contains 39,238 unique occurrences of 875 taxa (854 species, 14 subspecies, five varieties and two species aggregates) from the Baikalsky Reserve and its buffer zone. All the data were acquired during the field studies by the author in 2009–2021, when 152 taxa (17.3% of all the taxa included into the dataset) were first recorded by the author from the study area. Herbarium vouchers are preserved in the Moscow University Herbarium (MW). This dataset is the first attempt at creating a database of vascular plants of the Baikalsky Reserve and its buffer zone, based on modern research. These data will provide the background for the updated check-list of the Baikalsky Reserve's flora.
vascular plants, occurrence, Khamar-Daban Range, Republic of Buryatia, Russia
Baikalsky Reserve was established in 1969 to protect local plant communities of the Khamar-Daban Range within all the altitudinal zones. The Baikalsky Reserve's flora includes several relict plant species (
First detailed botanical studies here began in the middle of the 20th century. Scientists from Irkutsk described the vegetation of the Khamar-Daban Range and collected herbarium specimens (herbarium vouchers are preserved now in the Herbaria IRK and IRKU). N.A. Epova studied the vegetation and relict species and made the first map of floristic division of this territory (
Open-access data with precise geographic references are essential for modern research as it allows a computational approach to analysing spatial patterns of species distributions. This is the first comprehensive dataset focusing on the flora of the Baikalsky Reserve covering its whole territory and all the taxonomic groups of vascular plants. Several datasets, including some data from the territory of the Baikalsky Reserve amongst other areas, were published in recent years (
The main purpose of the dataset (
The dataset contains 39,238 occurrences from 3,156 sampling events. A total of 90.39% of the dataset (35,467 occurrences) is formed by species lists from 1,873 relevés (59.35% of all sampling events). The number of species per one relevé varies from 8 to 87, with 19 species on average.
The flora of the Baikalsky Reserve has been actively studied since the Reserve was established, but only recently has it become possible to create a database containing exact geographic localities. Furthermore, both current species distributions and full check-list of the flora of the Baikalsky Reserve may require further verification.
The dataset aims at biodiversity monitoring and inventory in the framework of scientific research in the Baikalsky Reserve. This dataset does not cover a full list of vascular plants of the Baikalsky Reserve. It contains the data collected only by the author during her own field research. All the herbarium vouchers preserved at the Moscow University Herbarium (MW) have been made available online via GBIF (
At present, the dataset contains 875 taxa at species and infraspecific levels. This is approximately 280 species less than in our preliminary unpublished check-list of the Baikalsky Reserve's flora which includes all records from all the published sources. Revisiting the herbarium collections in Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude and Tomsk revealed that ca. 150 species out of these 280 have never been documented by herbarium vouchers and their publications cannot be confirmed. All the herbarium specimens from our territory kept at the Novosibirsk Herbarium were mentioned in the check-list of the flora of Baikal's shores (
As the majority of herbarium specimens collected by other researchers and not included in this dataset date back to the middle of the 20th century, they lack the geographic coordinates and the textual description of the locality does not allow georeferencing with the precision of 1–2 km. Sometimes, the description is even more vague and the uncertainty reaches 5–10 km. Approximately 30 species, recently recorded by other researchers and confirmed by herbarium specimens with geographic coordinates and, therefore, suitable for this type of dataset, were not included. Thus, the dataset with the original data collected by the author contains the majority of vascular plant species authentically known from Baikalsky Reserve and its buffer zone.
At the moment, a new check-list of the vascular plant flora of the Baikalsky Reserve, based on modern data and herbarium specimens, is being compiled. The data from the other herbaria will be further included into the updated check-list and georeferenced with the maximum available precision.
The Baikalsky Reserve with its buffer zone is situated mostly in the mountains. The lowest point of this territory is situated on the Baikal shore (457 m a.s.l.) and the highest point is Mt. Sokhor (2,316.7 m a.s.l.) in the middle part of the Baikalsky Reserve. The Temnik River forms the southern border of the Baikalsky Reserve (1,100–830 m a.s.l. from west to east). Altogether the territory of the Baikalsky Reserve and its buffer zone covers ca. 2,000 km2 (167,871 ha and 34,788 ha, respectively).
The Khamar-Daban Range is one of the mountain chains framing Lake Baikal in its rift zone; its origin dates back to the Baikal Orogeny (650–550 million years). Despite the ancient age, alpine landforms are widespread here due to mountain glaciation. The territory of the Baikalsky Reserve belongs to the area with local distribution of permafrost; some permafrost spots are located in the highlands and on the southern side (
The climate of the northern side of the Khamar-Daban Range in its central part is relatively mild for southern Siberia. The mean annual temperatures vary from -0.3°C at Tankhoy meteostation (460 m a.s.l.) to -3.4°C at the Khamar-Daban meteostation (1,420 m a.s.l.). The mean July temperatures are +14.7°C and +12.7°C; the mean January temperatures are -17°C and -17.9°C, correspondingly. The mean annual amount of precipitation is 900–1,450 mm. Winter snow cover reaches at least 90–100 cm with an average depth of 150 cm and the maximum depth of 190–200 cm (
According to "Zones and altitudinal zonality types of vegetation of Russia and adjacent territories", the study area within the central part of the Khamar-Daban Range belongs to the Khamar-Daban variant (Abies sibirica and Pinus sibirica forests, Pinus pumila elfin woods) of Tuva–Southern Transbaical group (nival–goltsy–tundra–taiga) of the Boreal (Taiga) type of altitudinal zonality (
The flora of the Khamar-Daban Range belongs to the Altay-Sayan Province of the Circumboreal Region of the Boreal (Holarctic) floristic kingdom, following
All the data were obtained during fieldwork in summer seasons 2009–2021 (except 2020 due to the COVID-related lockdown), mostly between 10 June and 20-25 August, in some years also including the beginning of September. This time interval covers the major part of the vegetation development in this region. Ephemerous plant species are absent from the Baikalsky Reserve and ephemeroid plants begin to flower in May and continue in June. All of them remain noticeable until mid-July or August; thus, this group of species is adequately represented in the dataset. In general, the field works were conducted during 2–2.5 months per year, except 2011 when field data were collected only for three weeks.
The dataset contains information from different sources:
The research was conducted systematically, the field routes being planned to access the maximal coverage of different parts of the Baikalsky Reserve and its buffer zone. The major part of the Baikalsky Reserve's territory is located in the mountains. The only highway (Irkutsk – Ulan-Ude) is situated north of Baikalsky Reserve. As the rest of the territory is inaccessible for motor transport, it was explored mostly on foot; pack horses were also used on the lower part of the southern side and half of the length of the Temnik River is accessible via airboat. Within the borders of the Baikalsky Reserve, four mountain passes (1,400–2,220 m a.s.l.) across the Khamar-Daban Range are predominantly used. The majority of paths follow the river valleys. To evenly study the territory, the routes were planned along the paths and radially around field camp sites. The total length of field routes comprised ca. 320 km in 2021; in the other years, it varied from 180 km to 420 km.
All the data reflect the spontaneous distribution of plants, both native and alien species. Cultivated plants from Tankhoy Village and other minor populated places situated in the buffer zone of the Baikalsky Reserve are not included into the dataset.
All the localities were georeferenced in the field via portable GPS-navigators Garmin (Etrex H in 2009–2017 and GPSmap 64 st since 2018), so the accuracy of the coordinates was limited by the technical characteristics of the devices.
Most of the plant identifications were made by the author, but there are several cases in specific taxonomic groups, in which identification was made by taxonomic experts and local florists. These are the following taxa: Boraginaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia, Calamagrostis, Carex, Epilobium, Hieracium, Oxytropis, Persicaria, Pilosella, Poa, Polygonum, Potamogeton and Salix. As a result, 37,532 occurrences (95.65% of the dataset) were identified to the species or infraspecific levels and 274 occurrences (0.7%) were referred to two species aggregates, i.e. Festuca ovina and Taraxacum officinale.
To reveal the local vascular plant diversity to its full extent, the occurences, identified to the genus level, were also included into the dataset (i.e. 1432 occurrences or 3.65% of the dataset, for 53 genera). Alchemilla, Euphorbia, Hedysarum, Lepidium, Sinapis, Sparganium and Valeriana were identified to the genus level only. Other 46 genera have occurrences both at species and genus levels. These are mostly Allium, Betula, Calamagrostis, Carex, Salix and some others. In most cases, though, the choice for unidentified species could be considerably narrowed to a certain selection according to the check-lists of the flora of the Republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk Region (
Achillea: Ptarmica group. Aconitum: blue-flowered species (A. ambiguum, A. baicalense, A. glandulosum; perhaps some others). Agrostis: A. clavata, A. tenuis; perhaps A. trinii. Alchemilla: unknown; this group needs a special revision in Baikal Region due to recent findings of several alien species. Allium: non-flowering plants of A. splendens and A. strictum; A. amphibolum, A. malyschevii, perhaps some others, depending on habitat and altitude. Alopecurus: non-flowering plants, most possibly A. arundinaceus. Aquilegia: non-flowering plants of A. glandulosa or A. sibirica. Avena: most possibly A. fatua or A. sativa, perhaps some other alien species. Betula: B. pubescens or B. platyphylla in cases, where key features for identification were not available. Brassica: unknown; except B. campestris; possibly, B. juncea. Calamagrostis: C. arundinacea, C. lapponica, C. neglecta, C. pavlovii, C. tenuis, depending on habitat and altitude. Carex: unknown. Cerastium: mostly alpine species; C. flavescens, C. pusillum, perhaps some others. Chenopodium: unknown, other than C. album. Deschampsia: unknown, other than D. cespitosa. Elymus: E. caninus, E. confusus, E. mutabilis, E. transbaicalensis. Eriophorum: alpine species; most possibly E. brachyantherum, E. gracile, E. humile, perhaps some others. Euphorbia: either E. borealis or E. discolor. Euphrasia: most possibly E. pectinata or E. stricta. Gastrolychnis: unknown. Glyceria: G. lithuanica, G. plicata, G. spiculosa, G. triflora. Gymnocarpium: either G. dryopteris or G. jessoense. Hedysarum: H. alpinum, H. inundatum, H. neglectum, perhaps some others. Hieracium: unknown. Hierochloe: possibly H. odorata or H. glabra. Huperzia: alpine plants different from H. selago s.str.; perhaps, H. appressa. Lappula: L. redowskii or L. squarrosa. Lepidium: unknown; possibly, L. densiflorum or L. virginianum. Lonicera: either L. caerulea subsp. pallasii or L. caerulea subsp. altaica; all plants from the southern macroslope, due to uncertainty of features in many cases. Luzula: alpine species, other than L. kamtschadalorum. Lycopodium: either L. clavatum or L. lagopus in subalpine zone. Myosotis: unknown, other than M. cespitosa, M. imitata or M. scorpioides. Pilosella: unknown. Plantago: P. depressa, P. major or P. media. Poa: non-flowering plants; most possibly species within the list of species mentioned in the dataset. Potamogeton: unknown; most possibly species within the list of species mentioned in the dataset. Pulsatilla: other than P. orientali-sibirica or P. turczaninovii; perhaps, P. bungeana. Pyrola: non-flowering plants, most possibly P. incarnata or P. minor. Ranunculus: most possibly R. polyanthemos or R. propinquus; perhaps some other species close to these two. Rhizomatopteris: either R. montana or R. sudetica. Salix: unknown shrub species, most possibly others than mentioned in the dataset. Saussurea: S. latifolia or S. parviflora in habitats where both species can possibly occur. Sinapis: S. alba or S. arvensis. Sparganium: unknown. Spiraea: non-flowering plants of either S. flexuosa or S. media. Stellaria: alpine species, unknown. Taraxacum: local alpine species, possibly T. ceratophorum, T. mongolicum. Trisetum: T. agrostideum or T. altaicum for alpine habitats; for others most possibly T. sibiricum. Urtica: most possibly, U. dioica or U. galeopsifolia. Valeriana: V. alternifolia (if separated from V. officinalis) or V. transjenisensis. Vicia, Viola: species within the list of mentioned in the dataset. Woodsia: unknown; most possibly others than W. ilvensis; perhaps W. glabella, W. calcarea or some other species.
In general, all the territory of the Baikalsky Reserve and its buffer zone is covered by our field routes. The records are concentrated mainly along the paths and river valleys or some localities of particular botanical interest (Fig.
Geographic coverage of records within the dataset (Baikalsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve and its buffer zone: floristic data available via GBIF on https://doi.org/10.15468/g4sdvs).
51.1 and 51.7 Latitude; 104.8 and 105.6 Longitude.
The dataset includes all the Tracheophyta found in the Baikalsky Reserve and its buffer zone. The majority of occurrences belong to Magnoliopsida (25,580 or 65.19%); Liliopsida has 6,979 occurrences (17.79%), Pinopsida – 3,678 occurrences (9.38%), Polypodiopsida – 2,430 occurrences (6.19%), Lycopodiopsida – 564 occurrences (1.44%), and Gnetopsida (with its only member Ephedra monosperma) – seven occurrences (0.01%).
The taxa included into the dataset belong to 410 genera of 89 plant families. Top-10 families with the largest numbers of taxa at the species or infraspecific level and the largest number of occurrences are mentioned in Tables
Top-10 families with the largest number of taxa on species and infraspecific level.
Rank | Family | Number of taxa | % of taxa of the dataset |
1 | Asteraceae | 103 | 11.77 |
2 | Poaceae | 91 | 10.40 |
3 | Cyperaceae | 58 | 6.63 |
4 | Rosaceae | 50 | 5.71 |
5 | Fabaceae | 44 | 5.03 |
6 | Ranunculaceae | 39 | 4.46 |
7 | Caryophyllaceae | 36 | 4.11 |
8 | Brassicaceae | 34 | 3.89 |
9 | Ericaceae | 24 | 2.74 |
10 | Apiaceae | 23 | 2.63 |
Rank | Family | Number of occurrences | % of records of the dataset |
1 | Pinaceae | 3534 | 9.01 |
2 | Poaceae | 3331 | 8.49 |
3 | Asteraceae | 3275 | 8.35 |
4 | Rosaceae | 3149 | 8.03 |
5 | Ericaceae | 2677 | 6.82 |
6 | Ranunculaceae | 2300 | 5.86 |
7 | Betulaceae | 1579 | 4.02 |
8 | Cyperaceae | 1252 | 3.19 |
9 | Fabaceae | 1154 | 2.94 |
10 | Apiaceae | 1021 | 2.60 |
Although Pinaceae does not belong to the top-10 plant families with the largest number of taxa, it has the largest number of occurrences (3,534) in the dataset.
Rank | Scientific Name |
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phylum | Tracheophyta |
The dataset contains records on vascular plants from Baikalsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve and its buffer zone. The Reserve is situated in three admimistrative districts of Republic of Buryatia (i.e. Kabansky District, Dzhidinsky District and Selenginsky District), Russia. Field data were obtained in 2009–2021. Herbarium vouchers are preserved in Moscow University Herbarium (MW).
Column label | Column description |
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occurrenceID | An identifier for the occurrence. A variable constructed from a combination of two identifiers (datasetID and catalogNumber). For example, "urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:15550:12:00001". |
dcterms:type | The nature or genre of the resource. A constant ("Dataset"). |
dcterms:modified | The most recent date-time on which the resource was changed. A constant ("2021-11-25"). |
dcterms:language | A language of the resource. A constant ("en" = English) |
dcterms:licence | A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource. A constant. ("http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode") |
dcterms:rightsHolder | A person or organisation owning or managing rights over the resource. A constant ("Moscow State University"). |
dcterms:accessRights | Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. A constant ("Use under CC BY 4.0"). |
institutionID | An identifier for the institution having custody of the object(s) or information referred to in the record. A constant ("http://grbio.org/institution/moscow-stateuniversity" for the Moscow State University). |
collectionID | An identifier for the collection or dataset from which the record was derived. A constant ("urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:15550" for the Moscow University Herbarium). |
datasetID | An identifier for the set of data. May be a global unique identifier or an identifier specific to a collection or institution. A constant ("urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:15550:12"). |
institutionCode | The name (or acronym) in use by the institution having custody of the object(s) or information referred to in the record. A constant ("Moscow State University"). |
datasetName | The name identifying the dataset from which the record was derived. A constant ("Baikalsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve and its buffer zone: floristic data"). |
ownerInstitutionCode | The name (or acronym) in use by the institution having ownership of the object(s) or information referred to in the record. A constant ("Moscow State University"). |
basisOfRecord | The specific nature of the data record - a subtype of the dcterms:type. A constant ("HumanObservation"). |
informationWithheld | Additional information that exists, but that has not been shared in the given record. A variable. For example, "Associated ecological data and frequency estimate", "Voucher reference". |
catalogNumber | An identifier (preferably unique) for the record within the dataset or collection. A variable. For example, "00001". |
recordedBy | A list (concatenated and separated) of names of people, groups or organisations responsible for recording the original occurrence. A constant ("Natalia S. Gamova"). |
occurrenceStatus | A statement about the presence or absence of a taxon at a location. A constant ("present"). |
eventID | An identifier for the set of information associated with an event. A variable. For example, "2009-001". |
eventDate | The date when the event was recorded. A variable. For example, "2009-06-25". |
higherGeography | A list (concatenated and separated) of geographic names less specific than the information captured in the locality term. A constant ("Asia | Russian Federation | Republic of Buryatia"). |
continent | The name of the continent in which the location occurs. A constant ("Asia"). |
country | The name of the country or major administrative unit in which the location occurs. A constant ("Russian Federation"). |
countryCode | The standard code for the country in which the location occurs. A constant ("RU"). |
stateProvince | The name of the next smaller administrative region than country (state, province, canton, department, region etc.) in which the location occurs. A constant ("Republic of Buryatia"). |
minimumElevationInMetres | The lower limit of the range of elevation (altitude, above sea level), in m a.s.l. A variable. For example, "648". |
decimalLatitude | The geographic latitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a Location. A variable. For example, "51.5670". |
decimalLongitude | The geographic longitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a Location. A variable. For example, "105.3956". |
geodeticDatum | The ellipsoid, geodetic datum or spatial reference system (SRS) upon which the geographic coordinates given in decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude are based. A constant ("WGS84"). |
coordinateUncertaintyInMetres | The horizontal distance (in metres) from the given decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the location. A constant ("10"). |
coordinatePrecision | A decimal representation of the precision of the coordinates given in the decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude. A constant ("0.0001"). |
georeferencedBy | A list (concatenated and separated) of names of people, groups or organisations who determined the georeference (spatial representation) of the location. A constant ("Natalia S. Gamova"). |
georeferencedDate | Same as eventDate; georeferenced with GPS during observation. A variable. For example, "2009-06-25". |
georeferenceSources | A list (concatenated and separated) of maps, gazetteers or other resources used to georeference the Location, described specifically enough to allow anyone in the future to use the same resources. A constant ("field GPS data"). |
identifiedBy | A list (concatenated and separated) of names of people, groups or organisations who assigned the Taxon to the subject. A constant ("Natalia S. Gamova"). |
scientificName | The full scientific name, with authorship and date information, if known. A variable. For example, "Abies sibirica Ledeb.". |
kingdom | The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the taxon is classified. A constant ("Plantae"). |
phylum | The full scientific name of the phylum or division in which the taxon is classified. A constant ("Tracheophyta"). |
taxonRank | The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName. A variable (five options: "species", "subspecies", "genus", "variety", "species aggregate"). |
nomenclaturalCode | The nomenclatural code (or codes in the case of an ambiregnal name) under which the scientificName is constructed. A constant ("International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants"). |
taxonomicStatus | The status of the use of the scientificName as a label for a taxon. A constant ("accepted"). |
Gamova N S (2021). Baikalsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve and its buffer zone: floristic data. Version 1.6. Lomonosov Moscow State University. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/g4sdvs accessed via GBIF.org on 2021-11-25.
The study was supported by the grant from Russian Science Foundation (project 21-77-20042).
I would like to acknowledge my colleagues who helped with identification of some groups of vascular plants: Dr. S.V. Dudov and Dr. M.N. Kozhin (Moscow State University) – Calamagrostis, Carex, Salix, Poaceae; Dr. A.P. Seregin and Dr. S.R. Majorov (Moscow State University) – alien vascular plants; Dr. O.V. Jurtzeva (Moscow State University) – Persicaria, Polygonum; Dr. A.P. Sukhorukov (Moscow State University) – Chenopodiaceae; Dr. A.A. Korobkov (Komarov Botanical Institute) – Artemisia; Dr. M.V. Olonova (Tomsk State University) – Poa; Dr. A.A. Bobrov (Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters) – Potamogeton; Dr. S.V. Ovchinnikova (Central Siberian Botanical Garden) – Lappula, Hackelia; Dr. A.N. Sennikov (Komarov Botanical Institute; University of Helsinki) and Dr. N.N. Tupitsyna (Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University) – Hieracium, Pilosella; Dr. R.E. Romanov (Komarov Botanical Institute) – Tillaea; Dr. N.V. Stepantsova (Irkutsk State University), Dr. N.V. Stepanov (Siberian Federal University), Dr. M.S. Knjazev (Botanical Garden UB RAS) and Dr. D.G. Chimitov (Institute of General and Experimental Biology SB RAS) – Oxytropis and some other local species.
Special thanks to the staff of the Baikalsky Reserve who supported my field work; to A.P. Seregin who helped with organising the dataset; to S.V. Dudov, M.N. Kozhin and T.M. Gavrilova (Moscow State University) who improved the text.
All stages of the work were performed by N.S. Gamova.