BOTANY WITH THE FOUNDATIONS OF HYDROBOTANY (AQUATIC PLANTS OF UKRAINE) - B.Ye. Yakubenko - 2011

XII. CONSERVATION OF PLANTS AND THEIR COMMUNITIES.

A new trend, phytosozology, has emerged in modern geobotany, focusing on conservation-worthy botanical objects: plant species and plant communities. These issues are relevant today and will remain so in the future, with the Prospects of phytosozology gaining increasing importance in society.

Just as ecology is divided into autecology (focusing on individual species) and synecology (focusing on vegetation), phytosozology is subdivided into autphytosozology (the individual conservation of botanical objects) and synphytosozology (the CONSERVATION OF PLANT communities).

The tasks of phytosozology include the identification, categorization, informatization, and Study of the dynamics of Gene pools and phytocenotic pools that require protection; elucidating the causes and consequences of threats and ecological safety arising from synanthropic, technogenic, and natural environmental factors; developing theoretical and practical aspects of conservation, renaturalization, and repatriation of gene and cenotic pools into natural ecosystems; establishing an ecological network and forecasting the balance between natural ecosystems and agricultural landscapes; and providing a phytosozological justification for Methods of rational use, restoration, and enrichment of biodiversity.

Ukraine counts about 7,000 species of vascular plants, of which over 800 require conservation and protected status. Ukraine is an industrial and sparsely forested country, with a forest cover of 14%. Under the pressure of high anthropogenic impact, natural plant communities are undergoing transformation. Many species of the native flora have disappeared or are on the verge of extinction. Globally, one species or subspecies disappears every day, while its recovery takes 6,000–16,000 years. There is an urgent need to protect the gene pool of Ukraine's native and cultivated flora.

Rare plants include endangered species that are on the verge of extinction, are shrinking in their range, and have a reduced number of habitats. They fall into two conservation categories: national (state-wide) and regional. The former includes species that require state protection through botanical gardens and landscape sites.

In the contemporary era, nature conservation is of paramount importance. Forest vegetation has been destroyed across vast areas, steppes and meadows have been plowed up, wetlands have been drained and developed, and the areas of arable land and open-pit mining are expanding, while small and medium-sized rivers are shallowing. Natural ecosystems are experiencing unprecedented pressure. As a result, ecosystem areas are shrinking and flora is becoming impoverished. There is an urgent necessity to preserve nature.

The task of botany is to establish new principles for preserving and augmenting the gene and cenotic pools of Ukraine's plant cover. This problem becomes particularly acute due to the intensity of Anthropogenic impact on natural ecosystems. Currently, several categories of plants requiring protection by the state and local authorities are distinguished. The most common are five categories of rare plants, coded with numerical indices adopted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Plants that appear to have vanished and have not been encountered in recent decades may be completely extinct, or they may still survive in inaccessible and poorly studied locations, or exist in cultivation, botanical gardens, and nurseries. These are species whose populations have declined to such an extent that their recovery is nearly impossible without special reproduction measures.

Endangered plants are species found in very few (1–3) locations and are virtually on the brink of extinction; their numbers are declining sharply, and without special conservation measures, they may disappear.

Rare plants are species found in 5–10 localities, occupying a small area and occurring in small numbers. They are not currently endangered, but unfavorable natural or anthropogenic conditions could lead to their extinction.

Threatened plants are species whose number of individuals, localities, and range are decreasing. They are also referred to as sparsely distributed or indeterminate. They are still insufficiently studied, as a result of which these plants are not classified among the first three categories.

Indeterminate plants are species sometimes referred to as regenerative. There is insufficient reliable data regarding them. They are not subject to mass collection and require constant monitoring of their status. Therefore, these plants are not officially registered as requiring conservation.

Scientific generalization of information in the field of conserving populations of individual plant species is reflected in Red Data Books—those of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the European Red List of Globally Threatened Animals and Plants (1991), as well as those of individual countries.

The Law of Ukraine on the Red Data Book of Ukraine (February 7, 2007) is the primary state document concerning the protection of fauna and flora. The Maintenance of the Red Data Book of Ukraine is entrusted to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine.

The Red Data Book of Ukraine was first published in 1980 as a single-volume edition. The second edition (1996) was prepared in two volumes: "Fauna" and "Flora".

The volume "Flora" includes accounts of 541 species (subspecies, varieties, forms) of plants and Fungi, among which vascular plants account for 439 species, bryophytes for 28, Algae for 17, Lichens for 27, and fungi for 30. The third edition of the "Red Data Book of Ukraine: Flora" was published 13 years after the second and is the result of work by a large team of authors from various scientific institutions, primarily the M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, as well as other organizations and independent specialists. In the new edition, the list of plants and fungi requiring protection numbers 826 species, including 611 vascular plants, 46 bryophytes, 52 lichens, and 57 fungi. This list has increased by 35%, which is associated with the worsening situation regarding the conservation of rare plant and fungal species. Currently, the populations of many species continue to decline, and their ranges are shrinking or becoming fragmented. We provide only the list of aquatic and coastal-aquatic plants included in the "Red Data Book of Ukraine: Flora" (Appendix B).

Categories of conservation objects. There are 826 species of plants and fungi growing in their natural state, along with A wide variety of plant communities that require protection. However, because these species occupy diverse positions in natural ecosystems and are at different Selection/3.html">Stages of development and representation across various vegetation types and plant covers in Ukraine, they have simultaneously acquired varying categories of significance and conservation priority. Depending on their level of presence in nature and conservation needs, scientists have developed a system of categories for nature conservation botanical objects. To assign a botanical object to a specific category, factors such as botanical significance, typicality, rarity, representativeness, созологічна цінність, national and regional rarity, endemism, and other parameters are taken into account.

In Ukraine, rare and endangered plant species and phytocenoses are protected through categories such as national parks, nature reserves, sanctuaries (zakazniks), natural monuments, and others. The status of these conservation object categories is outlined below. Ukraine has 7,010 protected areas with a total area of 2,557.8 thousand ha (4.2%): these include two national parks, 12 state reserves, about 450 sanctuaries, and a significant number of natural monuments that serve as benchmarks and sites for preserving rare and endangered plant species and phytocenoses of various vegetation types. Ukraine is home to 700 rare plant species and A large number of phytocenoses requiring protection by the state and local authorities. At the same time, the network of nature conservation objects is not yet fully formed in accordance with the country's territory and the representativeness and typicality of various species and phytocenoses.

Under these conditions, a portion of rare species—including those listed in the European Red List and the Red Data Book of Ukraine—are cultivated and propagated through a system of botanical gardens in order to replenish native phytocenoses with endangered species.