Bryophyte vegetation of Poltava City Park

Abstract

Aims. This study aims to investigate the bryophyte vegetation of the Poltava City Park, a national garden art monument, to establish its characteristics and to represent them within the syntaxonomic scheme of moss vegetation of the Forest- Steppe zone of Ukraine. Methods. Standard methods and techniques for describing bryophyte communities were employed to collect data for the study, with the objective classification of those communities according to the eco-floristic classification system based on the Braun-Blanquet method, supplemented by the own work (Gapon, 2013). The creation of a syntaxonomic scheme for moss vegetation was conducted using set monographic summaries (Dubyna et al., 2019; Marstaller, 2006; Mucina et al., 2016) along with own contributions. The names of bryophytes were provided according to the Prodromus of Bryophytes of Ukraine (Virchenko & Nyporko, 2022). Results. As a result of the research, it was determined that the bryophyte vegetation of Poltava City Park is represented by 9 classes, 11 orders, 15 unions, 15 associations, 7 subassociations, and 14 rankless groups. It is characterized by an impoverished species composition of bryophytes in bryocenoses, a predominance of unranked communities in the epigeic moss cover, vegetative propagation of mosses with a low frequency of occurrence of species with sporogoniums, etc. This is most probably due to the significant recreational load on this nature reserve in the city. Conclusions. The bryophytic vegetation of Poltava City Park is typical for the Forest-Steppe zones of Ukraine, but is characterized by an impoverished species composition of bryophytes in bryocenoses, a predominance of vegetative reproduction in bryophytes with a low frequency of occurrence of mosses with sporogonies, and a predominance of rankless communities in the epigeic moss cover. This is most likely due to a significant recreational load. Further monitoring on the mossy vegetation of this nature reserve will allow us to track its development and future changes.