Theme 10. The flora
§ 27. Vegetation
1. Remember that natural factors affecting species composition of plants.
2. What are the typical vegetation types form mixed forests and steppe?
Formation of plant cover. An additional 15 - 12 thousand years ago during the last glaciation in Europe, almost all Ukraine had been covered with grass vegetation. In the north, formed cold tundra, and South - not too warmer plains. Woods and heat-loving plants were kept only in secluded valleys in the south and in the Crimean mountains. After the ice period end antropohenovoho period formed the modern vegetation. Its species composition and distribution depended on climate change. Warm moist periods contributed to the spread of deciduous forests of beech, oak, chestnut, hornbeam, maple, and appeared in the era of cold pine-birch forests. In the southern part of the same Ukraine hundred thousand years dominated steppe vegetation.
Currently, the vegetation of our country are kinds plants that remained from the ancient geological eras. They are called relics. In Ukraine there is relict yew berry, yellow rhododendron, sword-grass marsh, marsh saxifrage and others.
On the species composition of modern vegetation and influenced Human activities that caused the extinction of some species of plants and distribution of new, imported from other areas.
Records Ukraine
The oldest trees still grow on Earth in Ukraine ginkgo biloba: This tree species grew more in the Jurassic period, ie 160 million years ago! Currently growing in Kyiv Botanical Gardens, the White Church, Crimea.
Patterns of distribution vegetation. Diverse vegetation Ukraine representing more than 30 thousand species of higher plants, including Herbal prevail. Trees and shrubs only 280 types. More than 600 species higher plants are endemic - Those that meet only on this territory. Natural vegetation is preserved in Ukraine only in the forests, the meadows, swamps, slopes of hills and ravines, in nature reserves.
Plants that grow in a particular area, able to adapt to similar environmental conditions (climate, topography, geological buildings, grounds, etc.). form the plant communities. They harmoniously coexist trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, mosses, lichens, fungi. Ukraine is most common in forest, steppe, meadow and marsh plant communities. In different parts of Ukraine, their different species composition, due differences in humidified, lighting, thermal conditions and soils. On the lower part of Ukraine vegetation cover mostly zonal - depending on latitude. In the mountains observed by high-altitude vegetation change girdles.
Fig. Vegetation
Working with map
1. What plant communities are common in the north Ukraine, and which - in the south?
2. Where is the country's forests grow platyphyllous?
3. What plant communities are most widespread in Ukraine?
4. What vegetation is formed in your area?
Forest vegetation. Forestsis the most difficult plant communities. Plants make up stories out there according to their height and age. Forests cover almost 15% of Ukraine. Most of them - in the mountains and the north. Forests make up there large solid areas, covering 40% of total area Carpathians, 32% - in Mountain Crimea and 25% - of Polesie. In the south and east Ukraine woodland accounts for only 4%.
The main arboreal species forests of Ukraine are: a conifers - pine, spruce, fir, larch, with hardwoods - beech, oak, linden, ash, maple, birch, poplar, alder. On the plains of common pine (burs), deciduous and mixed (coniferous-deciduous) forests. Pine and mixed forests typical of Polesie and partly forest and deciduous - forest for. Dominant species in mixed forests is pine and oak, impurities form hornbeam, linden, maple, ash and others.
Fig. Pinewood
Deciduous forests differ in their species composition in different territories: the oak-beech common in western Ukraine oak-hornbeam - on the Right Bank, oak-maple-lime - on the Left.
Especially changing species composition of forests in mountain regions of Ukraine. In the foothills of the Carpathians distributed mainly platyphyllous forests oak, hornbeam, beech, maple, maple. In the lower mountain forest zone they yield beech (Beech forests) and mixed spruce-fir-beech. The upper forest zone - a strip of spruce-fir forests. Closer to the top occur crooked and woodlands, alder, Juniper crooked pine.
On the northern foothills of Crimea distributed mainly oak forests and scrub, and southern - stunted oak and spruce forests of shrubs. The slopes of the Main Ridge of Crimean mountains covered with oak and beech forests, above are sometimes modified pine. The South Coast of Crimea appear thermophilic evergreen subtropical species: Boxwood, laurel, cypress, magnolia, sycamore, fan palm, oleander, lavrovyshnya et al. They mainly brought here by man and growing up in parks and gardens.
Records Ukraine
The highest tree in Ukraine - larch: in Rahove cut down a tree that at the age of 140 years had a height of 54 m. Lowest tree - the willow obtusifolious: Carpathians dwarf species grows to 15 cm tall
Steppe vegetation. To agricultural development in Ukraine natural steppe vegetation took almost 2/3 of its area. Now it is preserved some small spots in the foothills of Crimea, on sandy kosah Azov-Black Sea coast, the slopes of hills and ravines, river valleys and on the protected territories.
In the middle zone of Ukraine remaining meadow steppesWhere they alternate with fields and forests. Their vstelyayut typchak, feather grass, couch grass, tonkonih, chaff, sage, clover. In Soils and along the coastal preserved plot Wormwood-cereal steppes. This transitional type of vegetation from steppe to desert. In their grass dominated typchak, zhytnyak, feather grass and wormwood. Virtually disappeared motley-fescue-feather grass steppes, що occupied the northern of the steppe zone and fescue-feather grass steppes on Black Sea Lowland.
Meadow and marsh vegetation. Luke Ukraine is a real treasure blooming variety of herbs. They are divided In the flood, and terrestrial mountain. The most common flood meadows with rich mixtures, which form a clover, buttercup, sorrel, yarrow, fescue, mitlytsya, keleriya. On overland meadows grow dandelions, chaff, cornflower, wheat grass, timothy, bilovus. Mountain meadows covering the Carpathian and Crimean mountain valleys jajly. Turf there a lot - chaff, bilovus, tussock, clover, arnica, gentian, orchis and others.
Wetland types vegetation suffered great losses due to drainage works. Moor common mainly on still alive. They are covered with a carpet of green moss sfahnovyh or over which rise cranberry, mud, sundew, starwort, babies'-breath. Herbal swamp is in Polesie, the forest-steppe and flood plains of rivers. They plant cover forming sedge, reed, reed mace, horsetail swamp.
Records Ukraine
The highest herbaceous plants that stem erect, Ukraine has a cane and Siberian borschivnyk the height sometimes reaches 4.5 m.
Vegetable Resources. Plants always accompany human life. First of all they provide the environment of its existence, supplying oxygen to the atmosphere. Mastering of soil nutrients and collecting solar energy with photosynthesis, plants are indispensable in human food and as animal feed. They are used as valuable medicines, building materials, raw for various industries. Plants have long served as fuel. And coal, oil, natural gas and peat are also of plant origin. Among the green world Plant man draws inspiration, aesthetic enjoyment, inspiration, refreshment and health.
Special value is Forests. They mitigate climate (in winter they freeze more easily tolerated, and in summer - Heat), reduce wind speed, longer retain moisture. The forests are hitting net well, not dry river. A distinguished scientist V. Vernadsky emphasized that the forest soil filters the effluent so well that it can not be compared water in the laboratory. The root system of trees to prevent soil erosion, landslips.
Man makes extensive use of forest wealth. Wood goes for furniture, matches, packaging, wallpaper, paper, pencils, household products, gifts. The fruits of many shrubs (rose, hawthorn, raspberry, hips, buckthorn) are used for preparing medicines. Healing properties are also many herbal plants (valerian, violet, dandelion, St. John's wort, strawberries, celandine, plantain, lily of the valley, periwinkle, etc.).. The forests are rich in mushrooms: brown, pidosychnyky, white chanterelles Oiler. They are ideal places location for sanatoriums, rest homes.
Thus, Flora provides the very man diverse resources: food, medical, industrial, agricultural (pasture and hay), recreational.
Plant protection. The importance of plants in nature and human life is essential to efficiently and intelligently use them. On Unfortunately, human impact on nature is not always positive. Destructive deforestation, crude drainage of wetlands and river flood, excessive plowing Prairie areas, destruction of natural systems and mining activities industrial wastes lead to impoverishment and destruction of plant communities, extinction of many species of plants in Ukraine. This in turn causes other negative processes. In particular, deforestation has led to a sharp reduction absorbance of soil, shallowing of rivers, drying up springs and wells. Held and changes in climate: the summer heat has increased, frequent showers rains cause floods in the rivers. And in the Ukrainian Carpathians recent uncontrolled deforestation has caused more and becoming more frequent landslides.
Irreversibility of negative processes in the plant the world has caused the need for measures to protect and restore its species and communities. Thus, in 1980, was issued Red Book of Ukraine. It describes the rare and endangered plant species that require special of their place of distribution, the measures for their preservation and reproduction. If first edition of the Red Book of Ukraine were included 150 species of plants, now them for more than 600. Among them, for example, is well known snowdrop normal, sleep-grass, primrose plain, onion bear, rhododendron east-(Red rue), alpine bilotka (edelweiss) juniper high, thousands of berries and others. Most of the endemic and rare species are Crimean Mountains and Ukrainian Carpathians.
Fig. Juniper high
Fig. Snowdrop
To preserve rare plant communities in 1987 created Green Book of Ukraine, Which now included 130 herbal combinations. This is a community in which rulers are rare, endemic and relict plant species, unique communities (eg alpine, prairie, flood), which almost completely destroyed business activities.
The main plant communities in Ukraine forests, rangelands, meadows and marshes.
On the lower part of Ukraine vegetation varies depending on latitude, and in the Ukrainian Carpathians Mountainous Crimea - with height.
Rare and endangered species to protect described in the Red Book of Ukraine, plant communities - in the Green Paper Ukraine.
Questions and Tasks
1. Please tell us which plant communities formed in Ukraine.
2. What forest species composition of vegetation is our country?
3. Name steppe species. Where preserved natural steppe vegetation?
4. What measures are taken to protect the plants?
5. Think about why deforestation led to negative changes in the environment.
6. What plant group and some common plants у your community? Are there them Publish pressikty and endemic? What рidkisni Plants includedо to Red Books Ukraine?
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