Woody Plants Vitality of Urban Areas and Prospects of Their Greenery

Abstract

The problem of trees selection in urban green spaces has been reviewed. Vitality of the dominant representatives of the most spread woody plants types used in urban areas landscaping has been analyzed. The advantages of native tree species usage under exotic species in cities greenery, which has been in higher phytomeliorative ability of indigenous species, their adaptability to environmental conditions and effective use of available resources, have been found. The criteria for assessing the vitality of plants at different levels of biosystem organization have been accented; key parameters of adapted species protective processes and destructive parameters of unstable species in stressful growing conditions have been highlighted. The most informative indicators of woody plants life condition in urban areas have been morphologic - square, weight and linear parameters of vegetative and generative organs, necrosis, diseases and pests damages presence, the level of dechromation and crown defoliation and physiological - content and ratio of photosynthetic pigments, metabolic composition of leaves, acidity level and buffer stability of leave 's internal environment. The use of resistant to anthropogenic pollution species of Salix L. genus as effective phytoremediants of technologically-transformed ecosystems has been proposed. Sensitive to environmental contamination Populus L. and Pinus L. species have been not recommended for planting in urban areas. However, they can be used as informative bioindicators of environmental ecological condition. Middle resistant species of Betula L., Acer L., Aesculus L., Tilia L. and Pinus L. genus have been recommended to implementation in urban ecosystems greening of recreation areas - parks and squares. Sustainability of the trees genera analyzed in terms of anthropogenic pressure has increased in the following range: Aesculus L. → Pinus L. → Populus L. → Tilia L. → Betula L. → Acer L. → Salix L.