Ecological patterns for vegetation cover formation in the mining waste dumps of the lviv-volyn coal basin

Abstract

Purpose. Determination of ecological patterns for vegetation cover formation in the mining waste dumps of the Lviv-Volyn coal basin based on the ecotopes floristic composition analysis of waste heaps reclaimed and non-reclaimed. Methods. The phytoindication of ecological regimes is used based on the ecological parameters of herbaceous species of vegetation covering the mining waste dumps; data retrieval techniques (Data Mining methods); plant species multivariate ordination based on the main components analysis (Principle Component Analysis); statistical processing of ecotopes ecological parameters of the mining waste dumps. Findings. A phytoindication assessment has been performed of the conditions in the places of growing 8 ecological-cenotic groups and 5 subgroups of plant species representing various ecotopes of reclaimed and non-reclaimed waste dumps of mines according to nine parameters: Tm – thermal regime, Kn – climate continentality, Om – ombroclimate, Cr – cryoclimate, Hd – soil moisture, Tr – salt content, Rc – soil acidity, Nt – mineral nitrogen, Lc – luminosity-shadowing regime. It has been found that with decreasing parameters of climate humidity, shadowing in cenosis and soil moisture, the indexes of thermal regime, continentality, soil pH and salt content increase. It is recommended to present the typological scheme of the vegetation covering the mining waste dumps in the form of a quadrangle, in the centre of which meadow and synanthropic vegetation is located, and in the corners – boreal and psammophilous vegetation; nemoral-forest; hydrophilous; meadowsteppe and calcetrophilic. Originality. It has been revealed that the vegetation covering the mining waste dumps of the Lviv-Volyn coal basin is characterized by an ecological-cenotic areal. It has been assessed on the basis of the species ordination on the axes of complex environmental gradients, and the center of this areal is occupied by meadow and synanthropic species, which demonstrate greatest sustainability under the conditions of mining waste dumps. The most vulnerable species are meadow-steppe, calciphilous, hydrophilous vegetation, the ecological-cenotic areal of which is characterized by the location on the periphery of the general vegetation areal of mining waste dumps. Practical implications. The ecological parameters of flora species make it possible to determine their position in the ecological-cenotic areal of vegetation covering the mining waste dumps of the Lviv-Volyn coal basin, as well as to predict their sustainability and dynamics.