Floristic Diversity of Watercourses and Temporary Reservoirs of the Ostrovtsovsky Cluster of the Volga Regional Forest-Steppe State Natural Biospheric Reserve Impacted by the European Beaver’s Expansion
The paper is devoted to an important problem of modern ecology, namely, the reaction of native ecosystems to the activity of invader species, with the European beaver (Castor fiber L) as an example. This species transforms the environment as a result of its foraging and constructive activities. Higher vascular plants (macrophytes) in water bodies and streams are one of the basic components of biotopes. They serve as a limiting factor for the spread of such invasive species as C. fiber, because macrophytes determine the basis of this animal’s diet. On the other hand, under the influence of the constructive and foraging activities of C. fiber, the macrophyte communities undergo significant changes. As a result of this process, such indicators as trophicity and saprobity of natural waters change, whose quality is formed at the level of small reservoirs and watercourses. It is especially important for the forest-steppe zone characterized by relative poverty of water resources. The data collected during three field seasons (2015-2017) allow describing the current status of the highest aquatic vegetation in several small water bodies and watercourses located in the Volga regional forest-steppe State Nature Reserve. Other factors of environment transformation, such as the economic use of reservoirs and watercourses and their adjacent territories, and the recreational load, are practically excluded there. The presented data reflect the influence of C. fiber upon the biocenoses of small water bodies and watercourses.
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