Changes in the flora composition of the specially protected natural territory «Khomutovskaya steppe» over the last thirty years

Abstract

As a result of summarizing the published data, processing the herbarium funds of the Donetsk Botanical Garden (DNZ) and field surveys conducted in 2015-2019, a list of flora of the specially protected natural area «Khomutovskaya Steppe» was compiled: 730 species, 340 genera, 84 families. A total amount of 67 (9.2%) species belong to the rare fraction, 121 (16.6%) species are referred as the adventive fraction. The distribution of adventive species by location type was analyzed, and their invasiveness was evaluated. The study has shown that the process of adventization of flora in the Donbass, which increases the taxonomic diversity of the flora, negatively affects the vegetation cover of a specially protected natural area, manifesting itself in the expansive strategy of some invasively active species that transform the natural plant cover. The greatest invasive threats to steppe, ravine-gully and floodplain ecosystems are associated with transformer species, namely Lonicera tatarica L. and Acer negundo L.