Syntaxonomic composition and spatial structure of territorial units of vegetation of salt marshes of the Malozemel'skaya tundra

Data on the syntaxonomic composition and spatial structure of the vegetation cover of salty and brackish coastal marshes of the coast of Kuznetskaya Bay and the surroundings of the Khodovariha village are presented. Eight homogeneous (phytocenoses) and 5 heterogeneous units (ecological series) were identified, which belong to the subclass of salt marshes Puccinellisubchorietea phryganodis . A detailed description of the change of marsh communities from low to high levels in directed ecological series on the slopes of bedrock terraces is given. For the slightly inclined flat coastal terrace of the Khodovariha site with mosaic vegetation there were made two large-scale geobotanical maps of syntaxa and territorial vegetation units (1: 250, 1: 1000) based on a digital elevation model of the day surface and aerial photography. The use of a typological scheme of territorial units, rather than syntaxa, seems to be much more convenient for mapping the vegetation of marshes of non-sloping terraces, where, under the conditions of an undirected gradient of environmental factors, directed ecological series are not formed, and the replacement of communities occurs in small areas. This approach also made it possible to characterize the types of studied habitats and their complexes in the European EUNIS system based on the syntaxonomic composition of vegetation, which is extremely important for planning any economic activities in the Arctic zone.