Lithoecotopes and Vegetation on Dumps of the Central Mining and Ore Enrichment Combine (the central zone of Kryvbass)

Abstract

In the article, characteristics of development of vegetation communities under conditions of mine rock dumps of the Central Mining and Ore Enrichment Combine or their rocky components (lithoecotopes) were determined, namely only lithophilic vegetation. We сlassified various lithoecotopes and characterized vegetation communities of varying complexity growing on plateau tops, terraces and slopes, depending on specifics of their constituent rocks and typological features. In accordance with the state of lithoecotopes, including all typological characteristics and the geochemical nature of the rocks, plant lithophilic communities growing on the dumps of the Central Mining and Ore Enrichment Combine, were characterized by significant differences in analytical (floristic and ecomorphic composition, occurrence, layerage, aspect, abundance, cover) and synthetic (similarity, constancy) signs. A detailed survey of the state of plants and their communities within the lithoecotopes has allowed us to establish that their distribution and development have clearly expressed dependence on substrate and relief-exposure,which can be used in phytocoenic and phytocenotic melioration of such technogenic ecotopes. Native overgrowth of all dumps has a shrub-tree forest and grassy pattern in accordance with the typological characteristics and rock composition. In general, taxonomic composition of plant communities growing on the dumps of the Kryvbas central zone is characterised by 153 species belonging to 31 families, of which 66 species are petrophytes, and 18 species are typical only for zone surveyed.