Flora of vascular plants in northern part of the "Yugyd va" national park

Study of biodiversity of nature protected areas (NPA) is one of the major priorities in the world. The "Yugyd va" national park is the largest key NPA of the Komi Republic. The reserve was approved by the Government of the Russian Federation in 1994 and included in the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1995. The area of the national park is about 1.9 mln ha. Protected territory covers western slopes and foothills of the Subpolar and Northern Urals and adjoining sites of the Pechora River lowland including basins of its large right tributaries: Kosyu, Bolshaya Synya, Schugor and Podcherem. The vast territory of the "Yugyd va" national park is still botanically underinvestigated. During the last decade, scientists of the Institute of Biology of the Komi Sci. Centre, Ural Branch, RAS obtained new data on diversity of the vegetation of the reserve. The results of studying the flora of vascular plants in the northern part of the national park (basins of the rivers Kosyu and Bolshaya Synya) are presented. It is established that on the territory there grow 562 vascular plants species from 245 genera and 76 families. 34 taxa were registered for the first time in the reserve. Based on the analysis of the taxonomic and geographical structure of the flora, it can be classified as mountainboreal. High proportions of the monotype genera and families indicate migration nature of the flora. The ratio of ecocoenotical groups of species in the flora reflects the structure of vegetation cover of the territory. Species from mountaintundra, taigaforest and mire ecocoenotical groups are the most abundant. There are no significant evidences of the anthropogenic transformation of the flora, apophyte plant species are mainly involved in the overgrowth of disturbed habitats. Specific feature of the investigated flora is the significant proportion of rare and protected species including the Ural's endemics. New data on diversity of the flora of vascular plants of theprotected landscapes in the basins of the Kosyu and Bolshaya Synya rivers can be used for monitoring of the natural resources of the "Yugyd va" national park.