Ecological Systems and Devices Annotation << Back ECOLOGICAL FEATURES AND AGE STRUCTURE OF EREMURUS SPECTABILIS BIEB. POPULATIONS IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN CRIMEA V.G. Shatko, Yu.N. Gorbunov, V.A. Kryuchkova The results of 24-year monitoring of the state of two populations of the rare species EremurusspectabilisBieb., included in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation with category 2a – a species that is declining in numbers, are summed up. The ecological features, number and age structure of cenopopulations of this species in the South-Eastern Crimea on the territory of the Karadag nature reserve (Syuryu-Kaya ridge) and in the Kiziltash tract (Socharikon-Kaya ridge) have been studied. Based on the obtained descriptions of the habitat vegetation, the ecological type of E. spectabilis can be characterized as geophyte, mesoxerophyte, facultative petrophyte and calcephile, heliophyte, and hemiephemeroid. A tendency towards a decrease in the number of the Eremurus population in the Karadag reserve was noted, especially the number of generative plants, which indicates a clearly pronounced regression of this population. Population on the ridge Socharikon-Kaya is quite stable (with a slight fluctuation of individuals of different age states over the years). On average, over the years of observation, a significant proportion of the studied populations were plants in the vegetative stage of development (51…61 %), about a quarter were immature (18…30 %), the proportion of generative and juvenile plants is minimal (2…10 and 11…17 % respectively). The studied coenopopulations of E. spectabilis of normal type, full-membered, few in number. The number and structure of populations are highly dependent on weather conditions. Judging by the age structure, the composition of cenopopulations is replenished regularly, despite the relatively small number of generative plants. Methods for enhancing the protection of the studied populations are proposed. Keywords: Eremurus spectabilis; habitat ecology; monitoring; abundance; age structure; cenopopulation. DOI: 10.25791/esip.09.2021.1250 Pp. 27-38.