Specific features of soils and herbaceous plant communities in industrially polluted areas of the Middle Urals

Abstract

Anthropogenic transformation of soils and specific features of herbaceous plant communities have been studied in areas polluted with heavy metals. With regard to landscape and edaphic conditions, all test areas have been divided into two groups: agrozems and technozems. Phytocenoses in test areas of the background and buffer zones belong to the glycophytic variant of meadow vegetation type and to the premeadow stage of progressive succession, respectively. Chemical pollution leads to a decrease in coefficients of similarity between communities and an increase in taxonomic diversity due to reduction in species saturation of genera and families, with a rise in the proportion of monotypic taxa. The influence of chemical pollution on the species saturation of plant communities is stronger than that of community type and coverage of species. © 2015, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.