Keywords
old-growth oak forests
principal park-forming species
Scots pine
pedunculate oak
morphogenesis
monitoring
succession
How to Cite
Abstract
This work is a concise summary of the authors’ scientific research over a 25-year period and launches a series of publications dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the “Оlexandria” State Dendrological Park (Dendropark “Olexandria”), part of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The main studies focus on the park’s landscape-forming tree species – Scots pine and pedunculate oak. A number of population studies also concerned other park-forming tree species. In the Dendropark “Olexandria”, Scots pine forms the basis of most decorative compositions, while common oak retains its role as the main species in the arboretum’s natural old-growth oak forest. To date, it possesses strong edifying properties, protects the oak forest’s floristic core, and determines its ecological value. All our research was devoted to previously unexplored issues. For Scots pine, general morphogenetic reactions and their directions during adaptation to urban conditions were examined. For the first time in Ukraine, the impact of radioactive contamination on the morphogenesis of Scots pine outside the 30 km zone of the Chornobyl accident was assessed. For the oak forest, the consequences of long-term anthropogenic interference with its integrity and structure on its viability were studied. Forest pathology monitoring of the old oak forest was initiated. The initial stage included the study of the edificator species. Later, comprehensive population studies of woody plants accompanying the oak and contributing to the oak forest’s floristic core were conducted. Subsequently, similar studies of the main park-forming species were extended to non-oak areas of the Dendropark “Olexandria”. In recent years, studies of succession processes in the old-growth oak forest have been initiated, including the determination of factors, pathways, and models of oak forest degradation; the study of the possibility of its restoration or preservation; and the consequences for phytocenoses of changes in dominant species. A large part of the research was devoted to detailed examinations of the growth conditions, structural organization, and phytosanitary condition of the old-growth oak forest of the Golendernya tract, which joined the Dendropark “Olexandria” in 2008.
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