The meadow, psammophytic and ruderal plant communities with Solidago canadensis L. in Chernihiv Polesie (Ukraine)

Abstract

In Chernihiv Polesie Solidago canadensis most often grows in ruderal communities of the Berteroëtum incanae association. Characteristic plant species of the Artemisietea vulgaris class have been found in many phytocenoses with Solidago canadensis. A typical ruderal community dominated by S. canadensis was found, in which characteristic species of the xero-mesophytic ruderal vegetation of the Onopordion acanthii are well represented. Initial communities with the S. canadensis coverage of 25 to 60% in combination with the species of this order and the characteristic species of other high syntaxa were found. Most of them are the transformed meadow phytocenoses of the river floodplains and less often – the psammophytic phytocenoses of pine terraces. The process of ruderalization of meadow ecosystems as a result of the invasion of S. canadensis in Chernihiv Polesie was revealed. This process is especially pronounced on the loess islands, where meadows change into semiruderal grasslands and herblands of the Convolvulo arvensis– Agropyrion repentis alliance. S. canadensis invasion leads to xerophytization and unification of the floodplains meadow phytocenoses grassland. The course of these processes is accelerated by anthropogenic pressure on ecosystems and has irreversible consequences. S. canadensis rarely occurs in the Koelerio–Corynephoretea canescentis class psammophytic communities