Conservation significance of the potential protected area "Buzhora forest"

The article presents the justification for the allocation of a new protected area from the point of view of preserving the biological diversity of flora and vegetation. The territory of the proposed natural monument «Buzhora Forest» is the western outpost of the oak forest in the NorthWestern region of the Caucasus. The flora of this area includes 166 different plant species from 58 families and has special characteristics related to the presence of species from the North-Western Transcaucasian and Kuban broad-leaved areas. An important feature of this forest area is the presence of two populations of a rare species of snowdrop, which is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation – the folded snowdrop (Galanthus plicatus M. Bieb.). The second important feature of the vegetation cover of the Buzhora Forest natural monument is the growth of oak and oakhornbeam forests on the border of its area. They are located on the border with the CrimeanNovorossiysk province and represent a heterogeneous environment with cloverleaf pinnate and hornbeam in the undergrowth and in the second tier. The diversity of cenotic spectrum is marked: oak-hornbeam, oak-hornbeam-hornbeam-hornbeam, oak-jasneberry-hornbeam and hornbeam communities prevail. A typical forest community is oak-hornbeam-hornbeam forest with clematis. Of considerable interest are the shibliak communities, which are located on the border of the nature monument and include Mediterranean plant species. Rare and endangered plant species were also found here, including Steveniella satyrioides, Orchis wulffiana. Finding of the latter species of orchid in Bujorsky forest is the second registration of this species in the territory of North-Western Transcaucasia. Forest oak and oak-hornbeam communities on the southern slope of the watershed are important habitats for various rare and protected animal species, including Bolivaria brachyptera (Pallas, 1773), Saga pedo (Pallas, 1771) and others. The northwestern portion of the natural monument includes a patch of forest that is home to the Mediterranean tortoise. 

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