Sharivskyi Park (Kharkiv region, Ukraine): history and monitoring research during 1997–2018

Abstract

Changes in the taxonomic composition, landscapes, and plantations of the ancient Sharivskyi Park (Kharkiv region, Ukraine) were studied according to the literature and the results of our own monitoring research conducted in 1997 and 2016–2018. It was found that the number of species and cultivars decreased between the studies, but not significantly (the rate of decline in taxonomic diversity slowed down because due to a long period of inadequate care, only the most resistant species remained in the park). There was an almost complete loss of Picea abies plantations, which occupied 2.3 ha (7.9 % of the green area) in 1997. In most of Sharivskyi Park, the park landscape was replaced with a forest type. Garden and meadow landscapes are disappearing in the park. The Oak grove of Sharivsky Park, which represented the park type of the landscape, is degrading; it was replaced by derivative plantations that form the forest type of landscape. Forest-type areas of the oak grove appeared to be stable; degradation does not occur in them. Restoration of the degraded oak grove is possible only if the existing derivative plantations are removed, which is currently prohibited by law (therefore, changes in legislation are required), and artificial planting of oaks.