Over the past ten years, the invetnory of old trees was conducted in Ukraine. The occurence of indigenous and introduced tree species of coniferous and deciduous old trees in protected areas of Forest-Steppe, Steppe, and Ukrainian Polissia was analyzed. Currently, the issue of comparative analysis of the taxonomic and ecological structure, the frequency of occurrence of tree species from 100 years in natural and man-made protected areas of the Ukrainian Polissia is critical. The purpose of this study was to systematize the taxonomic and ecological structures, the frequency of occurrence of potentially old, old, centuries-old, and ancient trees in protected natural and man-made territories and objects of the Ukrainian Polissia. The following research methods were employed in this study: analytical, route, identification, clarification of age-related tree species according to The World Flora Online, comparative analysis. A unified scale for the distribution of old trees into four categories (potentially old (about 100 y.o.), old (100-200 y.o.), centuries-old (200-800 y.o.), ancient (800+ y.o.)) was proposed and applied, and their distribution was made. The stages of the study of potentially old, old, centuries-old, and ancient trees in the Ukrainian Polissia are given. The age structure of natural and man-made protected objects is dominated by plants from 100 to 200 years old, which is 73% and 53%, respectively. Ancient trees are represented by Quercus robur L., which grows in five natural sites (1% of 543 sites). Depending on the number of plants in the protected area, as well as considering the number of objects where the plants under study grow, a method has been developed for estimating their frequency of occurrence (very frequently, frequently, rarely, very rarely). It was found that potentially old, old, centuries-old, ancient trees occur very frequently – 13 taxa (21%, among which 69% are autochthonous), frequently – 13 taxa (20%, introduced (46.2%), and autochthonous (53.8 %)) and rarely – 12 taxa (19%, autochthonous species prevail 58.3%). Very rare, only on one site – 25 taxa, their number is from one to seven specimens, 76% of them are introduced. 95.2% of taxa are concentrated in man-made objects (parksmonuments of landscape art and arboretums). From 19 to 26 taxa are concentrated in four parks-monuments of landscape art created at the end of the 19th century (Vozdvyzhenskyi – 19 taxa, Vahanytskyi – 22 taxa, Polonskyi – 22 taxa, Zirnenskyi – 26 taxa). 63 taxa of potentially old, old, centuries-old, ancient trees (59 species, hybrid, three varieties) belonging to 28 genera from 16 families were found in natural and anthropogenic objects in the Ukrainian Polissia. Of them, autochthonous species make up 41.3%, introduced species – 52.4%. 90.5% of potentially old, old, centuries-old, ancient trees belong to the six categories of the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, of which 69.8% are under low threat (LC category). The biomorphological spectrum of potentially old, old, centuries-old, ancient trees is represented by megaphanerophytes (47.6%), mesophanerophytes (49.2%), microphanerophytes (3.2%). The ecological spectrum mainly comprises mesotrophs (49.2%), hemiskiophytes (49.2%), and heliophytes (39.7%), mesophytes (44.4%) and mesohygrophytes (22.2%). The obtained study results will allow monitoring potentially old, old, centuries-old, ancient trees of the protected objects of the Ukrainian Polissia over time, comparing similar trees in other territories of different regions of Ukraine, supplementing the worldwide database “Monumental trees” with information about the types of ancient trees of the Ukrainian Polissia
centuries-old, species, parks-monuments, nature reserves, nature monuments
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