O.Turuta, N.Novitskaya, A.Etingova, L.Vakarenko, V.Ryabtsev, N.Stepantsova

PLANT MICRORESERVES ON BAIKAL LAKE COASTS.

National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, Kyiv  (Ukraine)
Pribaikalsky National Park, Irkutsk-Marituy-Onguren (Russia)

Introduction.

Plant conservation strategy is now in quickly and strong development in Baikal region as part of  general regional  biodiversity conservation strategy.  This strategies consists from many connected  directions, one of the most important from which is the plant conservation on protected areas of all ranges. Network of protected areas in Baikal region is old and comparatively large, but  it is not fully representative for  regional floristic biodiversity ,  not   always functioned as a closely connected mechanism, and not  create all needed real efforts for plant species protection. Because of that one of the main problems in protected areas of Baikal region development are, from one side, to create a regional ecological network as it mentioned in PEBLDS,  where all kinds and types of protected areas will be represented and connected one with other, and, from another side, to make real protection regimes on established protected areas, especially - in most important and most threatened.
Plant microreserves creation is one of the ways for some decide of this both sides of problem.

What are the Baikal plant microreserves .

The idea of plant microreserves creation on Baikal coastline was firstly active  developed in 1998 , when it became clear, that only traditional large protected areas can not make full necessary  conservation of plants, especially of such from them which are endemics, relicts, very rare or very endangered  in small insular populations. It became most clear on western coast of Baikal, where the Baikal landscapes diversity is most high (there are 5 altitudal mountain belts here, from dry steppes through coniferous taiga to mountain tundra and alpine meadows ), the floristic endemism is also highest on Baikal here , but extreme external dangerous for plant populations is also highest here.  Most of the territory of western Baikal coastline is protected in Pribaikalsky National Park since 1986, but until 1996 it was not real differentiation of protected efforts in connection with concrete sites of this Park importance, and at whole Park area of 418 000 ha it was only small regime diversification between  5 functional zones, without attention to each especially important  plant population.  Besides of that, many such populations are living near the border of Park, and here their protection was most  problematic.  This reasons, as also a large experience in regular plant populations status evaluation on this territory   in 1986 - 1996, became a ground for beginning of establishing here a network of  small plots in near 10 - 20 ha each, which are representative predominantly for endemics, relicts, species on areal borders and endangerous species of this territory, and which are connected one with another by some belts of non-destructed plant cover.  This plots became be named as "plant microreserves", and the most large territories (near 1 - 5 sq km) around them became be a  "key biodiversity districts"    .  Both this type of objects became be mentioned as connected network with special regime of protection and with differentiations of  conservational efforts according to each plant population and their habitat (including plant community) structural and functional status.

Baikal  microreserves network today.
  
Since  1998 the work of this network creation became most systematic and fruitful . After the series of generalization, the Inventory List of key biodiversity districts of Pribaikalsky National Park and its neighbourhoods was completed. It was dimensioned 18  such districts, representing for most biodiversity important mountain landscapes of  Park, and connected  one with another by corridors of non-destroyed landscapes. For each of this plots it is given  a basic landscape and biological characteristic, including syntaxonomic and floristic importance description and main conservational requirements. Inside each key biodiversity district the plant microreserves became be establishing according to the list of plant species available on  each district in order to importance of species. The priority for establishing of plant microreserves is following :
       absolute endemics of western coastline of Baikal - 21 species,
        endemics of all Baikal coastline - 35 species,
        endemics of around-Baikal mountain belt - 55 species,
        tertiary and quarternary relicts - 45 species,
        species on one or few borders of areal - 130 species,
        other endangerous species with small or disjunctive populations -60.
Now it is created microreserves for 1, 2 groups of species , and particularly for some species from groups 3, 4, 5 , and total number of species with own microreserves are now 75. The principle base of microreserves creation is  - not less than one microreserve for each species population, and most common  microreserves for few populations in sites of their common habitats. In this way, now total number of microreserves is 38.  With further development of this network according to available list of species and yheir habitats, it is planned to make near total 85 microreserves until 2005 on western  coastline of Baikal, including Olkhon Island and small 14 islands near this coast.

Senalization and conservational regimes.

Key biodiversity districts and plant microreserves are marked on their sites by special tables, marks, anshlags, stends, slopes and so on with short information about the conservational status of each plot.  Most part of microreserves are in status of traditional nature-using, where activity of local people (predominantely Buryats and Evenks) is permit if it not destructed for concrete plant population. It may be permit  pasture, grass cutting, berries obtaining, esthetic touring, and so on, in microreserves. But   it is dimensioned a value and a seasonal distribution of possible impacts for each microreserve, and  this regimes are corrected by Park Administration together with local communities at the beginning of each year.  Main criteria for one or another regime accepting are the parameters of  protected populations structure and functional status in previous year according to continuos observations fixed in database "Flora ".  For some populations in needed cases it may became use a measures for reinforsement or particular reintroduction, using seeding material from other  natural populations or from special plantations in Botanical Garden of Irkutslk University (such works are made, for example, for Allium altaicum, Hedysarum zundukii, Astragalus olchonensis,  Oxytropis tragacanthoides, Viola incisa , and so on most important for keeping, but endangerous populations). 
Common status of key biodiversity districts and plant microreserves is regulated by Statut  of Pribaikalsky National Park and Special Acts of local communities administrations.
  Development of plant microreserves network is planned both in direction of floristic and landscape representativeness,  and in territorial increasing outside the National Park and transiting to other coasts of Baikal.

Interregional correlations.
 
We have recently known with great interesting, that Planta Europa gives  important attention to plant microreserves and have it as one of priority model projects, especially in Valencian Community of Spain. It became very useful and pleasant for us to make contacts with Emilio Laguna as author of this project for interesting experience obtaining from he. We have opened some common approaches and some interesting varieties, and   using this new experience we hope for further best common success in this work. We have great thanks for Planta Europa and their project coordinator Liz Radford   for such pleasant opportunity to represent our materials and to receive such many new  useful and necessary information for effective development of common plant conservational efforts .  We hope for new common success. 

                Sincerely,                  the authors .

p.o. Marituy, Sliudianka dist., Irkutsk reg.  665920  RUSSIA.