Методологія Досліджень Топологічної Диференціації Рослинного Покриву (На Прикладі Дністровського Каньйону)

Abstract

Question: What research methods should be used to assess the topological differentiation of habitats (on the example of the Dniester canyon)? Locations: Dnister canyon, Ukraine. Methods: critical analysis of the literature sources and electronic resources. Nomenclature: Euro+Med Plantbase (https://www.europlusmed.org/), Mucina et al. 2016, Dubyna et al. 2021. Results:We outlined methodology (approaches, methods) for the ecological and topological differentiation of vegetation (habitates) evaluation and illustrated its use on the example of the Dniester canyon. We conducted critical analysis of the relevant terms and proposed a schematic structure of their relationships. The basic concept of the topological structure is the ecomere, which is represented by macrocombinations of habitats at the altitudinal-regional level, by mesocombinations at the catena-landscape level, and by microcombinations at the facies-local level. The Dniester Canyon is considered as a model of ecological and topological differentiation of the river valley catena which includes mesocombinations of slopes and floodplains. The main unit of the mesocombination is the links characterized by the proper phytocenoses (habitates). According to the influence of external factors series are distinguished, and geoseries are distinguished according to the changes in cenotic structure. Based on comparative analysis of ecological and coenotic profiles of various series and geoseries we identified 16 sigma syntaxa. Their nomination is given by the typical syntaxon. For example, specific petrophyte-grass (Poetosigmetum versicoloris) and shrub-forest (Corno-Quercosigmetum) ecomers are illustrated. Conclusions: Based on synphytoindicative assessment and modern mathematical methods (the main components of PCA-ordination and the "thermal" matrices of correlation dependence construction) we established the nature of interdependencies between changes in ecological indicator values and their influence on the plant communities (habitats) differentiation. The obtained results of the topological differentiation assessment and the quantitative (score) indicators are important for further monitoring, comparative analysis and forecasting of possible changes in the vegetation cover.