- Phytosociological survey of the tundra vegetation of the Kola Peninsula - 803 Journal of Vegetation Science 5: 803-812, 1994 © IAVS; Opulus Press Uppsala. Printed in Sweden Phytosociological survey of the tundra vegetation of the Kola Peninsula, Russia Koroleva, Natalia E. Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden, Kirovsk, Murmansk region 184230, Russia; E-mail KSC-BG@MURMANSK.SU (‘for Natalia E. Koroleva’) Abstract. A phytosociological survey of the tundra vegetation of the Kola Peninsula, Russia according to the Braun-Blan- quet approach is presented. The areas examined comprise the treeless zones along the shores of the White Sea and the Barents Sea as well as mountain areas above the timberline. Plant communities were assigned to five alliances: Loiseleurio- Diapension on dry, wind-swept habitats on summits and wind- eroded sites in the lowland; Phyllodoco-Vaccinion myrtilli on well-drained soils with intermediate snow cover and moisture status, mostly in the lowlands and lower belts of mountain tundra; Nardo-Caricion bigelowii comprising early snowbed and Salicion herbaceae late snowbed communities; Adeno- stylion alliariae comprising mesophilous tall-herb communi- ties along mountain springs and in wind-protected and well- drained sites near the sea shore. A DCA-ordination showed that two major gradients determine the varation in tundra vegetation, altitude and topography, which are connected to variation in snow cover. The syntaxa described are well- differentiated, although they form a syntaxonomical continuum. Keywords: Adenostylion alliariae; Classification; Loiseleurio- Diapension; Nardo-Caricion bigelowii; Ordination; Phyllo- doco-Vaccinion myrtilli; Salicion herbaceae; Syntaxonomy. Nomenclature: Lid (1987) for vascular plants; Corley et al. (1981) for mosses; Schljakov (1979-1982) for liverworts; Santesson (1984) for lichens. Important Russian topographic names are given at least once in the transliteration of the Russian spelling as found in the Times Atlas of the World. Introduction Obtaining a system of tundra vegetation units based on the classification criteria is essential for comparison and generalization of our knowledge of circumpolar vegetation. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a classification and ordination of tundra vegetation of the Kola Peninsula according to floristic criteria. Com- prehensive and detailed studies of tundra vegetation based on such criteria have been carried out in some regions of Scandinavia (Nordhagen 1936, 1943; Gjaerevoll 1956; Dahl 1956, 1987). This study allows a comparison of the tundra vegetation of the Kola Penin- sula with the closely related vegetation of Scandinavia. Study area The Kola Peninsula (Kol’skiy poluostrov) is situ- ated in northwestern Russia, between 66° N and 70° N. Tundra vegetation occurs here along the coast of the Barents Sea and the White Sea, as a zone of 1 - 3 km in its northeastern part and a zone of 30 - 50 m in the southern part, as well as on numerous isolated moun- tains and mountain groups above the mountain taiga. The treeless coastal lowlands of the Kola Peninsula are considered as the southern zone of the subarctic tundra (Aleksandrova 1977; Gribova 1980). Plant com- munities of the north coast are referred to as northern boreal heathlands. The coasts of the Kola Peninsula and northern Fennoscandia are excluded from the arctic zone. They can be regarded as belonging to the hemiarctic or hypoarctic zone. Oroarctic and orohemiarctic vegeta- tion zones are widely distributed on Kola and are coun- terparts of the analogous zones in the mountains of Fennoscandia (Ahti et al. 1968). Geology, geomorphology and soils The Kola Peninsula belongs to the Baltic shield. Bedrock consists mainly of granites, granite gneisses, and granulites. The mountain landscape of Kola is a result of uplifting from the shore of the Barents Sea to the center of the Peninsula (Kejvy Mountains). An in- trusion occurs in the western part of the peninsula, where the highest mountains, the Khibiny and Lovo- zersky Mts. arise at 800 - 1000 m a.s.l. Their geomor- phological features include flat surfaces and steep slopes of the summits as well as well-developed terminal and lateral moraines. Physical and chemical erosion is important in deter- mining the surface character of the mountains. Most of the surface is covered by a thick layer of coarse stony, unsorted material, in which gravel and stony soils are developed. Seasonal frost processes (frost-boiling, solifluction) as well as wind erosion influence the soil formation. The northern coast of the Kola Peninsula has a