Home – Home – Jornals – Flora and Vegetation of Asian Russia 2022 number 1

Ecologically correct forest management in city forests is impossible without full inventarisation of their biodiversity. Vegetation classification by the Braun-Blanquet method could be important step in the direction of the complex data base creation about city forests biodiversity as an essential part of ecological monitoring and planning of the forest management. The main aim of this research was comparative study of two forest areas with different level of disturbances in Novosibirsk city and their classification by the Braun-Blanquet method. In course of the detailed description 42 full geobotanical relèves were made as a basis for the classification. Depending on the level of the anthropogenic disturbances six syntaxa of the association and subassociation rank were described in city forests. Four of them were described first time. Natural forest vegetation of the area is presented by the two associations from Brachypodio pinnati-Betuletea pendulae class - Calamagrostio arundinaceae-Betuletum pendulae in mesic habitats and Trollio asiaticae-Populetum tremulae in moist habitats. Growing anthropogenic pressure in the modern megapolis leads to deep changes in the forest community structure and composition. Syntaxonomically this transformation could be described in two new subassociations Calamagrostio arundinaceae-Betuletum pendulae aceretosum negundi and Trollio asiaticae-Populetum tremulae aceretosum negundi respectively. They differ by the poor combination of the class diagnostic species and the presence of ruderal and meadow species including aggressive alien species. In case of the excessive anthropogenic pressure and soil eutrophication ruderal, nitrophylous and alien species start to dominate in community composition, especially in shrub layer. Such forests were described in frame of the new association Pino-Aceretum negundi with two subassociations typicum and impatientosum parviflorae, belonging to Robinietea class - spontaneous forests vegetation in city parks. Forests of this class are described in Siberia for the first time. So, vegetation classification of city forests by the Braun-Blanquet method gives possibilities to distinguish different stages of the anthropogenic transformation and to estimate recent forest conditions and their potential of recovering.