Laboratory of Flora and Vegetation

The introduction and settlement of alien species is currently a serious problem in many regions of the world. They are often the cause of significant negative consequences for the environment, economy and human health. According to the global assessment, it was shown that about 10% of new introduced alien species can gain a foothold in the territory and 10% of them will turn into problematic invasive species. For the regions of the Arctic and Subarctic of Russia, no assessment of the invasive status of introduced vascular plant species has been undertaken so far. During the implementation of the project, it is planned to make such an assessment for the first time using the example of the Murmansk region. It is expected to use the recommendations of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the guidelines for the assessment of invasive species developed for Norway. It is characterized by a clear elaboration of the evaluation scheme and the system of criteria. The basis for the assessment will be a checklist of adventitious species of vascular plants in the region (more than five hundred species). A special web application will be developed and used as a platform within the framework of the Flora of Russian Lapland information system. Large-scale field work is expected to update data on the spread of potentially invasive vascular plant species. The results of the assessment of the invasive status of adventitious vascular plant species will be published in scientific articles and available on the Internet as an open resource. Based on the assessment, a "Blacklist of vascular plants of the Murmansk region" will be formed, which can be used by the authorities to develop special measures to reduce the negative impact of invasive plants. Special attention will be paid to the role of the influence of invasive vascular plant species on ecosystems important for farming and living of the indigenous population (Sami) and the Russian Pomors living on the Kola Peninsula for a long time.

The project is aimed at a comprehensive study and analysis of the current diversity, functioning and dynamics of ecosystems of the highest belts in the mountains of the Kola Peninsula – the mountain tundra and the belt of char deserts, poorly studied in the European Arctic and Subarctic as a whole. The project implementation provides for the study of microclimatic conditions, flora of vascular plants and cryptogamous biota, structure and functions of soil and vegetation cover, as well as the composition of invertebrates, both in anthropogenically altered mountainous areas (in the vicinity of mining and processing enterprises Phosagro and KMK), and in relatively untouched territories (NP "Khibiny", nature reserve Seidyavvr et al.).