Snanthropic epiphytic bryocoenoses of Uzhhorod (Karpathian region, Ukraine) and its environs

Abstract

The moss vegetation of urban ecosystems in Ukraine has not been studied enough. The study of the bryophyte vegetation of the Transcarpathian lowland is still at the initial stage. The aim of the study was to identify the main features of the structure of synanthropic bryophyte vegetation in the city of Uzhhorod. In the course of the research, generally accepted methods of floristic classification of communities were used, and the classification scheme of vegetation was built taking into account the prodromus of bryophyte vegetation of Ukraine [12]. As a result of the original research of the moss cover of Uzhhorod and its environs, it was found that the epiphytic vegetation is formed by synanthropic bryocenoses belonging to two classes, two orders, four unions and six associations. The basis of the epiphytic moss vegetation in the urban ecosystem of Uzhhorod is formed by associations of the class Frullanio dilatatae-Leucodontetea sciuroidis, order Orthotrichetalia, unions: Ulotion crispae (associations: Orthotrichetum pallentis, Orthotrichetum speciosi, Pylaisietum polyantae), Syntrichion laevipilae (Orthotrichetum fallacis), Leskion polycarpae (Leskeetum polycarpae). The communities of the class Cladonio digitatae-Lepidozietea reptantis, order Brachythecietalia rutabulo-salebrosi, union Bryo capillaris-Brachythecion rutabuli (Brachythecio salebrosi-Amblystegietum juratzkanii) occur mainly in the basal part of forophyte trunks and on their protruding roots. A brief ecological description of each syntaxon is given and their comparative analysis with the known syntaxons of the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine and a number of cities of the Left Bank Dnipro River is made. The bryocenoses identified by us within Uzhhorod and its environs occupy an intermediate position between the corresponding syntaxes of natural ecosystems of the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine and the urban ecosystems of the Left Bank Dnipro River basin by almost all criteria (number of species in the community, area of the community, etc.).  Such a comparison is correct because the natural conditions of the Transcarpathian lowland are defined as identical to the Forest-Steppe zone.