Advanced methodology of ecological and geobotanical research of roadside vegetation

The possibilities of the method of ecological-phytocenotic profiles in the study of roadside vegetation are tracked. Its advantages are noted: it increases the representativeness of geobotanical relevés, allows to make an objective comparative analysis of the state of phytocenoses, their components, ecotopes in spatiotemporal relationship.

Ecological and phytocenological studies carried out along roads and railways show, firstly, the regional features of flora, and secondly, the specifics of the ecosystem belonging of species and phytocenoses. The degree of synanthropization of vegetation in all exposures (“notch”, “zero mark” and “mound”) naturally decreases from extremely high near the road to the minimum at a distance of 50 m or more from the road path. At the same time the highest rates and the sharpest decrease in synanthropization are observed in the “mound” exposition in closed floodplain and swampy ecosystems, as well as in the “notch” exposition in the forest ecosystem. These changes in the forest ecosystem are somewhat lower in the expositions “mound” and “zero mark”. Forest acts as a barrier. The amplitude of the distribution of anthropophytes along the profile is generally small in open meadows and in agroecosystems. The impact of mound slopes, the direction of roads and railways on the intensity of synanthropization of vegetation, including the penetration of invasive species, was found.

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