HERBARIUM AS TOOLS IN STUDY OF PLANT DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY (ON THE EXAMPLES KAZAKH SPECIES OF LEONTICE AND GYMNOSPERMIUM)

Abstract

The article provides data on the distribution and ecology of Kazakh species Leontice L. and Gymnospermium Spach. (Berberidaceae Juss.) based on analyses of herbarium specimens from four major scientific institutions in Russia and Kazakhstan. A total of 196 herbarium sheets were processed, 116 from herbarium collections of the V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LE) (St. Petersburg, Russia) and 42 from the Noah's Ark (MW) depository of living systems of the digital herbarium of the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov (St. Petersburg, Russia). Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), 25 from the herbarium collection of the Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction (AA) (Almaty, Kazakhstan), and 13 from the scientific depository "Virtual Herbarium ALTB" (ALTB) of the South Siberian Botanical Garden of Altai State University (Barnaul, Russia). Most specimens were collected 100 or more years ago, a minor number in the 50s–80s of the last century, and quite fewer modern, which are mainly represented in the scientific depository of the South Siberian Botanical Garden of Altai State University. All herbarium samples were found in the most ecologically typical habitats of the species. The distribution of Gymnospermium altaicum (Pall.) Spach. in the mountains of Tarbagatai and Dzungarian Alatau is uncertain, as the only confirmation of the presence of this species in Tarbagatai is only two herbarium sheets collected in 1840 by Karelin et Kiriloff. As regards the Dzungarian Alatau, no herbarium sheets of this species collected there were found. The results of the research show the possibility of using herbarium specimens to clarify the distribution and ecology of the studied species, as well as the need for additional research, as in the case of the rare species Gymnospermium altaicum.

Key words: herbarium, Berberidaceae, Leontice, Gymnospermium, Kazakhstan