Phytocoenology research on the populations of the species Centaurea Thirkei Sch.Bip. from the Republic of Moldova

For the first time, the phytocoenological study of the populations of the critically endangered species [Critically Endangered (CR)], included in the Red Book of the Republic of Moldova, Centaurea thirkei Sch.Bip, was carried out from the Forest Reserve “Hîrtopul Moisei”. As a result of the phytocoenological research carried out in the reserve, out of the 13 geobotanical reliefs made, only 2 of them could be grouped at the association level (in Iridio variegatae-Quercetum pubescentis Pînzaru, Cantemir et Belous 2022), the others remain to be described at the level of phytocoenoses, not reaching the required number of descriptions to be grouped into associations. The population study included the estimation of population characteristics, such as: the population (number of individuals), their density, age composition, dimensional structure, etc. We propose expanding the area of the reservation by including plot no. 15 which contains natural sectors with Q. pubescens and small groups of Centaurea thirkei Sch.Bip.