Parameters of Cantharellus cibarius Fr. ecological range fragment and resilience to human impact in taiga and sub taiga forest communities

Abstract The paper present results of analyses of plant communities with Cantharellus cibarius Fr. in southern taiga and sub-taiga forests within Kirov region. Golden chanterelle occurs mostly in pure pine forests and pine forests mixed with spruce and birch, of green-moss, lichen and cowberry types; in young to maturing stands; crown density low or medium. Species richness of herbaceous-shrub storey in the studied communities varied from 5 to 29. Ecological preferences of C. cibarius habitat fragment, defined with Ellenberg’s (1974) scales, allow to characterise the species as the following: temperate climate species, shade-resistant, rarely found in conditions of total shading; mesophyte regarding soil humidity, prefers acidic soils with low nitrogen, but, as an exception, marked on neutral soils rich in nitrogen. Differences in the species ecological preferences in conditions of southern taiga and sub-taiga are insignificant. Hemeroby index varied from 0.05 to 0.33 for studied communities. Average share of species tolerant to human impact was 13.23%, and the share of anthropo-phobic species – 86.77%. These data characterise C. cibarius as the species capable of tolerating moderate human impact in southern taiga subzone, but being less tolerant to human impact in sub-taiga areas and coniferous-broadleaved forests.