Blinkova O., Shupova T.: Bird communities and vegetation composition in the urban forest ecosystem: correlations and comparisons of diversity indices. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 36, No. 4, p. 366-387, 2017.Assessment of relationships and diversity indices between bird's communities and composition of the forest ecosystem is an important subject of synecological research to identify the intensity of human impact on the flora and fauna. Urban recreation is one of the major causes of violation of the structural and functional integrity of the forest ecosystem. Studies of avian complex and phytocoenosis have focused on the impact of urban recreation on the compositions of tree, shrub and herbaceous layers and species, trophic and ecological compositions of breeding-birds and feeding-birds communities. This paper compares the measurement of the diversity of bird communities and forestry vegetation (diversity indices, dominance indices, distribution uniformity indices) of intensive, medium, moderate and weak stages of recreational transformation of biotope. The stands formed Quercus robur L., Carpinus betulus L., Acer platanoides L., Tilia cordata L. The floristic list comprised 78 grass species. A total number of 43 species of avifauna including 37 breeding species are observed during the study. There were significant correlations between vertical heterogeneity of tree distribution and abundance, species richness and nesting density of birds. The interrelationship between species diversity of birds and floristic richness was also confirmed.

Blinkova O., Shupova T.: Bird communities and vegetation composition in natural and semi-natural forests of megalopolis: correlations and comparisons of diversity indices (Kyiv city, Ukraine). Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 37, No. 3, p. 259-288, 2018. Assessment of correlations and comparisons of diversity indices between birds communities and vegetation composition of the forest ecosystem is an important subject of synecological research to identify the intensity of human impact on the flora and fauna in megalopolis. Urban recreation is one of the major causes of violation of the structural and functional integrity of the forest ecosystem. Studies on avian complex and phytocoenosis have focused on the impact of urban recreation on the soil surface, compositions of trees, shrub and herbaceous layers and species, trophic and ecological compositions of nesting-birds and feeding-birds communities. This article compares the measurement of the diversity of bird communities and forestry vegetation (diversity indices, dominance indices, evenness indices) in the natural and semi-natural forests of the Kyiv city on a gradient of recreational transformation. The stands formed consist of Quercus robur L., Carpinus betulus L., Acer platanoides L., Tilia cordata L., Ulmus glabra Huds., Fraxinus excelsior L. and Prunus avium L. The floristic list comprised 65 grass species. A total of 49 species of avifauna were found, including 44 species that were protected by the Bern, Bonn and Washington Conventions. There were significant correlations between vertical and horizontal heterogeneities of tree distribution and abundance, species richness and nesting density of birds. The interrelationship between species diversity of birds and floristic richness was also confirmed.

Recreational degradation of forest ecosystems of the green zone of the town Uman was described on the example of the forest array «Belogrudivska Dacha». The vitality and health conditions of Quercus robur L. and species, systematic, trophic, spatial compositions of xylotrophic fungi were investigated. Changes in the compositions of xylotrophic fungi and Q. robur were indicated an intensification of degradation processes in fresh maple oak. However, the entwinement between the development and distribution of xylotrophic fungi with the degree of damage and drying of trees, the intensity of recreational load did not found. This effect was indirect. The consorts links of Q. robur and xylotrophic fungi essentially depend on the amount of available substrate and evaporation from the soil surface, density of canopy, the projective coverage of herb stratum, in general, the forestry and mensurational characteristics of the stands.  These components determine the development of forest ecosystems, the formation of myco-horizons of trees, the rate of accumulation of wood of various categories of substrates, which favorable for the settlement and development of xylotrophic fungi, certain levels of organization of consorts. The deterioration of the conditions of growth and development of Q. robur in fresh maple oak, drying and degradation of canopy cause changes in the composition of the consorts of these trees and xylotrophic fungi due to violation of the conditions of the forest environment, changes in the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the substrates, their distribution in time and space. Recreational impact was essentially neutralized due to the complex composition and large buffer capacity of the forest ecosystem, a large number of mechanisms for its sustainability, and the ability to quickly restore degraded elements and links of the forest. Highly productive young and medieval medium-attractive woodlands of Q. robur of recreational forests of the woodland part of the green zone of city Uman, affected a moderate and medium recreational impact. The territory of the tract has the first (75 %) and second (25 %) stage of recreational degradation. This was primarily due to the close location of the city, suburban villages, main transport networks and the availability of forest for the population. Species diversity of investigated fungi in all experimental plots acquired rather high values. Such indicators testified to the stability of xylomycocenosis to the existing recreational impact, unlike other, more vulnerable structural and functional components of the forest ecosystem: herb stratum, underbrush, undergrowth, soil surface. At all studied experimental plots of the tract, the best development of xylomycobiota was in the trees of the highest Kraft classes. According to the state categories in the investigated plots, weakened and strongly weakened trees were prevailed, in which the maximum number of species and findings of fungi was detected. The findings of xylotrophic fungi on the recently dead stands was minimal. The analysis of the vegetation under ombraregime has shown that subaridophytes and subomorophytes were predominated. In the medium- and low-transformed experimental plots, the magnitude of the ecological amplitude under ombraregime is slightly higher than that of the highly transformated experimental plot. This indicates a greater evaporation from the surface of the soil with an increase in the degree of recreational transformation. A significant change in the forest environment and substratum fund due to the intense degradation of the ecosystem may limit the development and spread of xylotrophic fungi.

The co-adaptive system of tree vegetation and wood-destroying (xylotrophic) fungi in artificial phytocoenoses (in an old-aged, and middle-aged ash-hornbeam oakery and monocultures of Pinus L.) of Forest-Steppe zone of Ukraine was analysed from the point of selected forestry parameters. We investigated the vitality, age, phytosanitary structures of pure acerous (Pinus strobus L., P. sylvestris L.) and mixed broad-leaved stands (Carpinus betulus L., Fraxinus excelsior L., Quercus robur L., Tilia cordata Mill.) and species, systematic, trophic structures of xylotrophic fungi (39 species of macromycetes representing 32 genera, 22 families, 9 orders of 2 divisions: Ascomycota (classes Leotiomycetes and Sordariomycetes) and Basidiomycota (class Agaricomycetes)). The results showed that the species composition and the structure (vitality, phytosanitary) of artificial phytocoenoses altered both the composition of xylotrophs and the levels of the damage of tree stands caused by them.

Selected forestry parameters were investigated in the system of tree vegetation and wood-destroying fungi in parks of the Kyiv city along a gradient of recreational transformation. We investigated vitality, age structure and health conditions of woody plants (Acer platanoides L., Aesculus hippocastanum L., Carpinus betulus L., Frangula alnus Mill., Pinus sylvestris L., Quercus robur L., Q. rubra L., Sambucus nigra L., Tilia cordata Mill.), and species, systematic, trophic and spatial compositions of xylotrophic fungi (27 species of xylotrophs representing 22 genera, 16 families, 6 orders of divisions Basidiomycota; class Agaricomycetes). The results showed that the communities of tree vegetation and xylotrophic fungi in parks depend on the degree of recreational transformation of the environment. Vitality, age structure and health conditions of trees altered species composition of xylotrophs.