Investigation of vegetation as a precondition for improving the management of a national nature park (on the example of Dzharylhatskyi NP)

Abstract

The protected area of Dzharylhatskyi National Park is only 3% of the total area. This is not enough to preserve dynamic ecosystems that are very vulnerable to natural factors and almost impossible to restore following damage by anthropogenic factors. In the investigated area there are territories with high potential for conservation, which are characterized by the presence of species from the Red Data Book of Ukraine and International Red Lists, plant communities from the Green Data Book of Ukraine and biotopes of global significance. The proposed ten sites should receive protected status, which will bring the protected area up to the necessary minimum to preserve the rare ecosystems of the park from tourism and economic pressure, which have intensified in recent years. For the period of research in 2014–2018, 14 types of sozophytes were identified and confirmed, two of them are the highly localised species endemic to Dzharylhach Island: Molinia euxina Pobed. and Poacynum russanovii (Pobed.) Mavrodiev, A. Laktionov et Y. Alexeev. The syntaxonomic structure of the sozologically valuable coenoses is represented by two basal communities, two subassociations and 8 associations belonging to 9 alliances, 9 orders and 9 classes. Out of them, we provisionally propose the new following groups: ass. Apero maritimi-Chrysopogonetum grylli nom. prov., subass. Apero maritimi-Chrysopogonetum grylli, Stipetum borysthenicae nom. prov., subass. Cladietum marisci, Caricetum extensae nom. prov., BC Molinia euxina [Molinion caeruleae] nom. prov. The proposed sites represent 8 biotopes from Annex I of the Habitat Directive, which imposes obligations for their conservation at the world level. We carried out an analysis of the Ukrainian legislative acts, their correlation with international requirements and the zoning of the NPP “Dzharylhatskyi” in relation to these requirements and recommendations. Thus, the urgent need to expand the boundaries of the protected area of the Dzharylhatskyi National Nature Park by including distinguished protected tracts has been confirmed.