Assessment of the impact of the urbanized territory of Yekaterinburg city on the formation of undergrowth in the forest park zone

Botanical Garden of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yekaterinburg. Russia

Abstract

The parameters of the undergrowth in the forbs and berry groups of pine forest types in 9 parks in Yekaterinburg and areas of natural forest have been investigated. Data on the species composition, density, and distribution by groups of heights of plants that make up the undergrowth collected. It has been established that the transformation of the undergrowth by an urbanized environment neutralizes the influence of the growing conditions of the considered forest types on it. In the forest-park zone, an increase in the density of the undergrowth is observed in comparison with the natural forest. The specificity of the forest park undergrowth is the floristic contamination with adventive species, the number of which is close to 50% of the total number of undergrowth species. The coefficient of floristic similarity of the undergrowth, according to the Sorensen coefficient between forest parks and a site of natural forest, was 0.26-0.46. In quantitative terms, the self-seeding of adventive species in the undergrowth is less than that of native plants. The invasive activity of ash-leaved maple in city parks and its dynamics over a 10-year period are considered, using the example of one of the parks.