Floristic Phenomena of the Samara Bend: The Fractal Organization of Taxonomic Diversity

Abstract

Considering the problem of taxonomic diversity as a fractal object is the aim of this article. The prerequisites for such an approach were articles with varying degrees of detail and argumentation that substantiate taxonomic diversity from the standpoint of fractal geometry. Common to these papers is that the authors in their theoretical constructs start from the Willis rule (law) describing the rank distribution of the relationship between the number of taxa and their volume. The flora of the Samara Bend (the bend of the Volga River in its middle reaches) has become an object of the research. The authors distinguish seven basic floristic areas on the Samara Bend, the boundaries of which coincide with the respective landscapes. The authors discuss the efficiency of the Willis rule (law), which approximates the relationship between the number of taxa and their volume by rank distribution. The multifractal spectrum (a generalized geometric image of generic structure) of the taxonomic diversity of vascular plants of the Samara Bend is presented.