VEGETATION SUCCESSIONS OF THE CHERNIHIV CITY ROADSIDE LAWNS DUE TO ANTHROPOGENIC PRESSURE AND WEATHER AND CLIMATE CONDITIONS CHANGES

Abstract

Purpose of the work. Establishing the structure, composition and dynamics of the Chernihiv city roadside lawns due to anthropogenic pressure and weather and climate conditions changes.

Methodology. The materials were collected during geobotanical studies of the Chernihiv city roadside lawns from 2019 to 2023. The vegetation descriptions were taken during the spring, summer, and autumn seasons in the areas of 1–9 m². 65 phytosociological relevés were done. Both spatial and temporal comparisons of the lawns monitoring plots at of different vegetation successions stages were carried out when studying dynamic processes. The digression coefficient (Kd), defined as the ratio of the lawn area without vegetation cover to the total lawn area, and expressed as a percentage, was used to quantify the degree of the lawn cultural phytocenoses destruction.

Scientific novelty. The structure and composition of the Chernihiv city roadside lawns due to anthropogenic pressure and weather and climate conditions changes was established. Successive digression series of the lawn cultivated phytocenosis (the Lolio perennis-Cynosuretum cristati Tx. 1937 association, var. Festuca rubra) affected by parking and trampling is presented.

Conclusions. The Chernihiv city roadside lawns phytocenoses belong to two associations (Lolio perennis-Cynosuretum cristati Tx. 1937 with a number of variants and Lolietum perennis Gams 1927) of the Cynosurion cristati Tx. 1947 union of the Arrhenatheretalia elatioris Tx. 1931 order of the Molinio-Arrhenatheretea Tx. 1937 class.

The impacts of parking on roadside lawns and ther trampling in combination with long periods without rain leads not only to the loss of phytocenoses decorativeness, but also to significant soil compaction, the consequence of which is a change in the composition and turfgrass xerophytization. Anthropodigressive successions have four stages, in the last of which the plant cover of the lawn area is represented by curtains of rosette, trampling-resistant species and single specimens of annual weeds.

Cereals and sedges that are recommended for insufficiently humid, warm zones (Poa angustifolia L., Festuca ovina L., Carex praecox Schreb., Carex spicata (Peterm.) Soó subsp. spicata) together with Lolium perenne L. in extreme conditions without irrigation should be use to create lawns. Creating alternative lawns resistant to drought conditions is advisable. The substantiation of the scientific foundations of their creation is a promising direction for further research.