SPONTANEOUS DENDROFLORA AND TREE-SHRUB VEGETATION OF TERRITORY INFLUENCED BY PRODUCTION FACILITIES OF SOUTHERN ORE-DRESSING COMBINE (KRYVYI RIH)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issue of the formation of arboreal diversity (dendroflora and tree-shrub vegetation) in the technogenically destabilized territory, which, at the same time, has the status of an “emerald” object – “Middle Inhulets river valley”. On the area of more than 56 km2, which is under the influence of the production facilities of one of the largest mining and ore-dressing combines in Kryvyi Rih, we found 61 species of woody plants, which belong to 44 genera and 24 families; of them, 28 species are indigenous (representatives of the local flora) and 33 are introduced (adventive). In the taxonomic spectrum of dendroflora, the first triad included the families Rosaceae (31.2%, 19 species), Fabaceae (9.9%, 6 species) and Salicaceae (8.3%, 5 species). The spontaneous dendroflora of technogenic and natural studied sites has 21 species in common; among them, aboriginal species predominate (12 species). The territorial distribution of species on the monitoring sites is to some extent determined by the types of plant dissemination. The number of endozoochor species is approximately the same in man-made and natural sites (21 and 19, respectively). This method of dissemination is almost equally characteristic of both native and introduced species (16 and 14, respectively). The number of anemochorous species is significantly higher on man-made formations (16 and 7, respectively). In the composition of the natural vegetation cover of the Inhulets river valley as well as gully systems, the woody component is represented by leafy shrubs (Fruticeta foliosa) and shrub steppes (Steppa fruticeta). From the standpoint of classification of biotopes, the first type of communities belongs to the biotope “Mesophilic and xeromesophilic shrubs”, the second one – to “Steppe shrubs”. Within the technogenic monitoring sites, recently formed technotopes (biotope “Anthropogenic outcrops and dumps without vegetation”) are distinguished, which are characterized by the diffuse placement of single specimens of woody plants, and biotopes of ruderal thickets of trees and shrubs (biotope “Anthropogenic broad-leaved forests”), where biological development of substrates took place over several decades. The obtained results are the basis for learning the dynamic trends of treeshrub communities, their structural rearrangements, floristic filling and the basis for the development and implementation of a corrective management system for the development of vegetation cover in technogenic ecosystems of Kryvorizhzhia.