Sulfur Shihan

Specially Protected Natural Territory (SPNA) was approved by the decision of the Executive Committee of the Kuibyshev Regional Council of People's Deputies No. 201 dated 06/14/1989 ^[1] . Subsequently, the status of protected areas was clarified by Decree of the Government of the Samara Region No. 838 “On the Approval of the Regulations on Specially Protected Natural Territories of Regional Importance” dated December 29, 2012 ^[5] .

Over time, the area of ​​the protected area changed from 30 hectares ^[3] (the area of ​​the sheehan proper ^[6] ) to 206 hectares ^[1] , currently the area of ​​the natural monument is 179.66 hectares ^[5] .

The purpose of the monument is to protect the steppe vegetation and habitats of plant species listed in the Red Book of the Samara region ^[5] .

Sernovodsky Shihan is a popular holiday destination due to its beautiful panorama with a radius of up to 40 km ^[7] .

The Sernovodsky Shihan is a remnant of a table-like shape, composed of marls , glaucolithic sandstones and dense clays of the Tatar layer of the Permian period . The wavy surface is the erosion terrace of the Akchagyl Sea developed in the Late Neogene . The territory is steeply led to the valleys of the Surgut and Shungut rivers. Outcrops of clay, marl, and gypsum are found on the steep southern slopes ^[6] . The height of the sheehan reaches 200-250 meters above sea level ^[6] .

The protected areas are located in the High Volga region in the forest-steppe zone of the Russian Plain , about 3 km south-east of the village of Sernovodsk, at the confluence of the Shungut River in the Surgut River, near the village of Karmalo-Adelakovo , within the borders of the village of the same name ^[5] , not far from the Samara Highway - Ufa The territory of the natural monument consists of two separate sections ^[5] : the eastern one includes the western and southern slopes of the sheehan, and the western, steppe, located at a small distance.

The natural monument is included in the forest-steppe landscape-climatic zone with moderate moisture ^[8] .

Of the total territory of the natural monument of 179.66 hectares - 67.9 hectares belong to Sergievsky district forestry of Sergievsky forestry , the remaining 111.76 hectares are agricultural land ^[9] . The territory of the forestry is federal property, other lands are either in the municipal (rural settlement Karmalo-Adelakovo), or in common shared ownership (the territory of the former collective farm "Victory") ^[10] . In fact, on the territory of the natural monument 70 hectares of land are occupied by forests, 98.26 hectares - by the steppes and 11.4 hectares - by other lands ^[9] .

The first information about the study of the Sernovodsky Shihan dates back to the 18th century. Peter Simon Pallas in his works (1773, 1776) provides information on the nature of the vegetation and plant species that he collected during the inspection of Sokskie Yarov ^[11] .

In 1834-1844, Karl Klaus, professor at Kazan University, visited the shihan. Studying the flora of Sergievsk and its environs, he described and collected 794 species of flowering plants ^[11] .

At the end of the 19th century, academician S. I. Korzhinsky visited the Sernovodsky Shihan. He described another 10 species of plants growing here ^[6] .

The nude slopes of the High Volga region, including the Sernovodsky Shihan, are still attracting botanists. In XXI, populations of rare species ^{[12] [13]} , associations of steppe and forest communities ^{[14] [15]} are studied in the sheehan flora, flora abstracts ^{[16] [17] are} updated.

The Volga Basin Institute of Ecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted a series of complex expeditions to study the Sernovodsky Shihan and its environs in 2008, 2011, and 2012. The expeditions were also attended by employees of the Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences , Samara State University and the Volga State Social and Humanitarian Academy ^[18] . A significant contribution to the study of local flora belongs to Professor T. I. Plaksina ^[18] .

Currently, the territory of the Sernovodsky Shihan is one of the model objects with a high degree of botanical knowledge ^[19] .

Flora

The natural sheehan complex combines stony (petrophytic) and turfy-cereal steppes, fragments of steppe oak trees, areas of deciduous forests and pine plantations in the northern part ^[19] .

The northern and eastern slopes of the outskirts do not fall within the boundaries of a natural monument ^[20] ; they are occupied by deciduous forest, consisting of common oak, maple-shaped maple , aspen and hanging birch . In the lower tier, oak tulip , May lily of the valley grow, common dwarf , large celandine , anemone ranunculus ^[1] . The western slope is occupied by a meadow steppe with oak chumps , the peak of the sheehan was once plowed and is now occupied by communities of weeds ^[6]

The steep southern slopes are predominantly occupied by plant communities of herb-fescue-feather grass steppes. The cereals are based on: Korzhinsky feather grass, Lessing grass feathers , tyrs grass feathers , feathery feather grass feathers , beautiful feather grass feathers , hardfoot leaves , fescue and desert grain. Of the common herbs, iris is low , tufted tufted , astragalus oviparous , ostracis hairy , gentian gentian , perennial flax , onosma protozoa , veronica spiny , Ural capitolum, shaggy fluffy , common yarrow , cedarum gherkin , Austrian gherkin , also Razumovsky’s penny , Volga astragalus , Tatar quatran , Ukrainian catnip , Bashkir ear-flaps , high angle grinder ^[1] .

Also on the southern slope there are areas of rocky steppe on which species that are mostly rare for the Samara region grow: helm astragalus, Zinger astragalus , trellis alfalfa , bright -leaved alfalfa , yellow flax , hardwood tansy , Lena alyssum , Isetian scabiosis , ground beetroot , ground beetle , ground beetroot , pollen ^] .

In total, 494 species of vascular plants are described in the flora of the Sernovodsky Shihan ^[21] , of which more than 21% of species are vulnerable ^[8]

In general, Sernovodsky Shikhan is a natural complex with a landscape typical of the High Volga region ^[22] and an exceptionally peculiar steppe flora, with fragments of deciduous forests ^[23] . Specialists identify 23 associations of steppe communities (of which 12 are rare - the largest among nature monuments of the Samara region ^[16] and 6 forest complexes ^{[14] [15]} . Such a unique floristic composition is usually inherent in the formations as a whole, and not their individual their plots ^[22]

In the ranking of specially protected natural territories of the Samara region , compiled by Ph.D. Kazantsev I.V. and Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Saksonov taking into account such factors as the degree of knowledge, standard, area of ​​the territory, anthropotolerance, coenotic diversity, the total number of species, the number of protected species, the degree of transformation and restoration potential, Sulfur-water shihan takes the 9th place ^[24] .

Rare and protected species

12 species of vascular plants included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation grow on the territory of the natural monument:

• Solyanka-like wormwood ( Artemisia salsoloides ), endemic of the South-East of the European part of Russia and Northern Kazakhstan. Pliocene-Holocene mountain-steppe relict ^[25] .
• Astragalus Zinger ( Astragalus zingeri ), endemic of the Southeast of the European part of Russia ^[26] .
• Russian hazel grouse ( Fritillaria ruthenica ) ^[27] .
• point globularia ( Globularia punctata ), Pliocene mountain-steppe relict ^[28] .
• large-flowered penny ( Hedysarum grandiflorum ), Pleistocene-Holocene mountain-steppe relict. East European endemic ^[29] .
• Razumovsky penny ( Hedysarum razoumovianum ), view on the northwestern border of the range. Trans-Volga-Kazakhstan endemic ^[30] .
• dwarf iris ( Iris pumila ) ^[31] .
• stiff-leaved thin-legged ( Koeleria sclerophylla ), Volga-Ural mountain-steppe endemic species ^[32] .
• mesh alfalfa ( Medicago cancellata ), view of the northern border of the range. East European endemic species ^[33] .
• feathery feather ( Stipa pennata ) ^[34] .
• beautiful feather ( Stipa pulcherrima ) ^[34] .
• Feather of Zalessky ( Stipa zalesskii ) ^[18] .

It is also known about the growth of 56 (including the above) species from the Red Book of the Samara region ^[16] :

The state of the protected species varies, so if the populations of the large-flowered penny are in satisfactory condition, the state of the Gmelin penny is considered critical, since the populations contain no more than 20-30 adult individuals, only occasionally exceeding this number ^[64] .

Fauna

The fauna, in contrast to the flora, is considered typical for the region ^[20] and therefore has not been practically studied.

Only a few surveys of the territory are known, however, accompanied by interesting findings. For example, an isolated population of leaf beetle Cheilotoma erythrostoma , which has a relic origin, lives on the Sernovodsky Shihan, since it is their only habitat in the forest-steppe Volga region, the closest population is known in the chalk steppes of the south of the Ulyanovsk region . It is also the only known habitat within the forest-steppe Volga region for Ceutorhynchus arnoldii , which is considered an East European-Caucasian-Kazakh steppe species ^[65] .

The factor of the negative impact of moderate power on the state of the natural monument is excessive recreational load and grazing ^[9] . Even P. S. Pallas noted that the sheehan flora is poor due to overgrazing by the local landowner Shalashnikov ^[6] . A threat to the natural monument is possible ground fires ^[9] .

The Ministry of Nature of the Samara Region has established a special protection regime for the protected areas “Sernovodny Shihan”: on the territory of the nature monument, any activity that entails a violation of its conservation is prohibited, in particular: plowing of land and other work related to violation of the soil cover; construction and operation of household and residential facilities, construction of buildings and structures, construction of roads and railways, pipelines, power lines and other communication lines; landfills, storage and disposal of waste; land reclamation, hydro construction, flow regulation; grazing small cattle, placing summer cattle camps; hunting, amateur and sport hunting; the use of toxic chemicals to protect and protect forests and agricultural land; warehousing, storage, destruction of pesticides, agrochemicals, other chemicals and fuels and lubricants; exploration and mining. It is also prohibited to grow forest fruit, berry, ornamental, medicinal plants, the creation and operation of forest plantations, the burning of felling and crop residues; movement of vehicles off-road ^[66] .

Provided that the protected natural complexes are not damaged, free access to the natural monument, collection of non-timber forest resources, food forest resources and medicinal plants for their own needs are allowed; haying, grazing cattle according to the established rules, beekeeping, limited pest control in agriculture and forestry, limited use of fire for fire fighting using the oncoming fire method, biotechnological measures aimed at maintaining and increasing the number of individual species of animals, establishing ecological trails, educational events ^[67] .