Features of vegetation succession in the loess quarry of the brick factory in Novyi Tik village (Rivne region, Ukraine)

Abstract

Termination of quarries is the reason for the settlement of pioneer plants, which exploit "free" areas of soil in a certain sequence, called successions. The theoretical foundations of restorative plant successions in the quarries are still relatively poorly developed, although there is much empirical research on the subject. The object of our study is the quarry of a brick factory located in the eastern outskirts of the village. Novy Tik (Demydiv district, Rivne region) in the central part of Volyn height, 27 km south of Lutsk. Since 2008, when the brick factory ceased to function in the quarry, there has been a primary plant succession, which is now at a youth stage and is characterized by an increase in biodiversity. As of autumn 2019, 72 plants spices have been identified in the quarry, including 6 species of trees, 1 species of shrubs and 65 species of grasses. According to the results of the systematic analyze, the Asteraceae and Fabaceae families predominate. The prevailing ecological groups of plants in the quarry are determined: in relation to lighting prevail heliophytes; in relation to the thermal regime, the largestproportion is made up of temperate-warm climate species; in the vegetation cover at the present stage of succession, Central European species prevail. Based on the analysis of the population of plant associations and the appearance of interspecific and intraspecific competition, it is established that plant succession in the studied quarry is at a youth stage. Also, heterochrony and microzonal differentiation of succession processes in different parts of the quarry are found. The difference in the passage of succession stages depending on the features of the relief is taken as the basis for the quarry microzoning. It has been established that at the present stage of vegetation succession, the determining factor in the qualitative and quantitative composition of plant communities is abiotic quarry factors, especially morphology and relief dynamics and lithological-stratigraphic structure of deposits. The initial stage of soil succession was revealed, which became possible due to the accumulation of a significant amount of mortmass in recent years.