Richness, taxonomic structure and representativeness of floristic diversity of forest areas

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Richness, taxonomic structure and representativeness of floristic diversity of forest areas

Journal Title: Лісівництво і агролісомеліорація - Year 2016, Vol 128, Issue

Abstract

Introduction Terminology, modern methodological and methodical scientific approaches in relation to the analysis of floristic diversity as a constituent of biodiversity of forest areas are given. Investigation relevance is caused by the international obligations of Ukraine in relation to biodiversity conservation, establishment of forest monitoring system and sustainable forest management. Materials and methods Floristic richness of the area was investigated by means of the inventory of species level (arboreal, shrub, herbaceous) taxon numbers per unit of area. Representativeness, typicalness (within the adjusted value) or uniqueness (below the adjusted value) of floristic richness and taxonomical components of investigated area in relation to the reference area of appropriate level were estimated by means of comparison between the value of calculated exponential constant in Arrenius equation and separate constituents of systematic spectra of investigated forest flora and the arithmetic mean expert values of standard florae. The objects of researches – 24 subcompartments with oak stands of natural (vegetative and seed) origin of middle-aged and senior-aged classes in dry, fresh and moist maple-linden oakery (0.980 km2) and 1 subcompartment (area of 0.039 km2) with middle-aged alder stands of vegetative origin in wet black alder grud, which represent the part of woodland “Large Forest” located in the southern part of Left-bank Forest-steppe of Ukraine. Results According to the inventory in woodland “Large Forest”, floristic composition in 25 investigated subcompartments (area 1.019 km2) numbers 99 species of higher vascular plants (13 species of trees, 12 – shrubs, 67 – herbaceous polycarpous species, 4 – biennial and 3 – annual species), belonged to 3 divisions (Equisetophyta, Polypodiophyta, Magnoliophyta), 4 classes (Equisetopsida, Polypodiopsida, Magnoliopsida and Liliopsida), 37 orders, 43 families and 84 genera. Angiosperms (Magnoliophyta) predominate in the overall systematic spectrum of investigated forest flora; vascular cryptogams (Equisetophyta and Polypodiophyta) have inconsiderable part; monocotyledonous-dicotyledons ratio is 1 : 4, which is close to the specific characters for Ukrainian and Middle European florae. Spectra of the most common families and genera represent the connection with the zonal vegetation type of forest-steppe zone – maple-linden oakeries and are typical for low-disturbed broad-leaved forests on sub-climax and climax development stages and are simultaneously approximate to the Northern (Polissya) and Southern (Mediterranean including Pontian) florae, that is agreed well with the location of forest-steppe flora. Calculated quantifiable value of investigated flora (exponential constant in Arrenius equation) proves that floristic richness of nemoral flora (99 species per 1.019 km2) in woodland “Large Forest” is rather representative in relation to the same nemoral flora in forest reserves “Pomirky” and “Pomirky-Sokolnyky” and Left-bank Forest-steppe and has value which is typical for Forest-steppe florae (n = 0,12). Conclusions Proposed method to research richness, taxonomic structure and representativeness of forest area's flora in accordance with the principle of ecological and floristic standardization allows evaluating more objectively the existing forest ecosystems in terms of their floristic richness and importance for biodiversity conservation, promotes the methodological support of forest biodiversity monitoring system.

Authors and Affiliations

M. Bondaruk, A. Tselishchev

Keywords

.biodiversity .phytodiversity .forest flora .floristic richness .representativeness .systematic spectra of florae .taxonomic structure

EP ID EP177466
DOI -
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