EREMOGONE CEPHALOTES (M. BIEB.) FENZL IN THE NORTHERN BLACK SEA REGION: CHOROLOGY, COENOTIC AND BIOTOPIC PREFERENCES

Abstract

The chorology of the rare endemic species Eremogone cephalo-tes in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine is given based on the results of own research and analysis of literary sources. We revealed that the species is widespread in Ukraine in the south of the Right-Bank Steppe (Dniester and Ingulets river basins): 7 localities of E. cephalotes are con-centrated within the Odesa region, 10 in the Mykolaiv region, and 1 in the Dnipropetrovsk region (4 population loci). Most of the known localities of the species are cosist of few individuals and occupy small areas, they are quite isolated from each other. The locality of the species discovered by us on the slope of the left bank of the main channel of Zelena gully, northwest of the village of Zelene, which is subordinate to the Kryvyi Rih City Council, is probably one of the largest known and occurs on an area of more than 8,000 m2. E. cephalotes is participated in communities with dominance or co-dominance of Stipa lessingiana, S. capillata, less often S. asperella, S. ucrainica, Galatella villosa. The total cover of phytocenoses with the participation of the species is mostly 60–65%, rarely up to 70%; cover of E. cephalotes is less than 1%. The studied populations of E. cephalotes in the gully Zelena (Ingulets basin) are confined to the habitat type grassland and shrubland meso- and xerophytic habitats, in particular, to – xeric (steppe) dense-turf grasslands with dominance or a significant participation of Stipa sp. and up to – dry forb-sagebrush steppes with a dominance of gray-pubescent Asteraceae (Dry forb steppes Tanaceto-Galatellion villosae). The habitats of the gully Zelena, in which E. cephalotes occurs, are of high sozological signifi-cance, 9 species from the Red Data Book of Ukraine were noted in their composition. The popula-tion loci studied in this gully belong to the non-full-membered type with right-sided age spectrum.