PRODUCTIVITY OF GRASSLAND IN A CHANGING CLIMATE

Abstract

Climate warming, which began in the second half of XIX century, and with a certain intensity continues today, cannot but be reflected in the future on the structural and functional organization of grasslands and their productivity, as well as on strategic methods of their improvement.
 Our 20-years long studies showed that phytocenosis respond to climate aridization through a significant decrease in performance even on low-lying meadows with a shallow (1-2 m below the ground) subterranean waters. In dry years, the productivity of most grass mixtures with a predominance in their composition meso-phytes, when compared with their average annual productivity in all years of research in these conditions, decreased by 26%-36%. However, environmental and biological structure of cenosis in this type of habitat remained stable.
 At the watershed habitat, where moisture is supplied only due to precipitation, more stringent conditions for grasses are formed due to the climate warming. This not only leads to poor performance, but also to changes in ecological and biological structure in terms of strengthening of cenosis xerophytization, hence the need to improve the range of perennial grasses and technologies for improvement and use of grasslands.
 The article includes an analysis of modern methods to provide the Ukrainian grasslands with composition of species and varieties of perennial grasses. It also outlines the main directions of their improvement in accordance with the regional topoecological composition due to the climate warming.