Grishin S.Yu., Terekhina N.V.
Vegetation cover of Matua Island (the Kuril Islands)
Year: 2012, Issue: LIX, Pages: 188 - 229
In the summer of 2010, a year after the powerful eruption of the Peak Sarychev volcano, the vegetation cover of the Matua Isl. (middle Kuril Islands) was surveyed. The field routes had covered mainly the south-eastern half of the island, since the north-western half turned into a volcanic desert after the eruption of 2009. We describe the main features of vegetation, including the altitudinal zonation, the meadow community of coasts, as well coastal and elevated terraces, dwarf alder (Duschekia fruticosa) community of slopes of the volcano, and fragmentary expressed vegetation of reduced highlands. As a result of investigation, the number of vascular plant species of the island increased by 17 units (up to 231 species). Interesting discovery was the finding of dwarf pine (Pinus pumila). Considered a defeat of vegetation by 2009 eruption, described the nature of the eruption, the main factors of destruction of vegetation and the prospects for its recovery.