Антропогенна трансформація властивостей екотонів захисного типу на шляхах залізничного транспорту

Abstract

Подано результати досліджень щодо формування екотонів захисного типу та створення інформаційно-аналітичної системи підтримки управлінських рішень для забезпечення рівня їх функціонування, який відповідає міжнародним стандартам, що регламентують сучасні вимоги до систем захисту довкілля. Представлены результаты исследований по формированию экотонов защитного типа и созданию информационно-аналитической системы поддержки управленческих решений для обеспечения уровня их функционирования, который соответствует международным стандартам, регламентирующим современные требования к системам защиты окружающей среды. The influence of rail transport on the environment creates many problems as it includes violation of the stability of natural landscapes transport infrastructure through the development of erosion and landslides; air pollution by exhaust gases; permanent increase in oil pollution of earth, lead, blowing products and shedding of bulk cargo (coal, ore, cement). Along with the benefits offered by the railway transport, there arise accute lssues of environmental safety during its use, which is caused by its negative and even destructive impacts on the environment. Sanitation methods provide for mandatory monitoring of the environment. The object of study is the quality of protective ecotones of the Lviv Railway. The forest shelterbelts, investigated in the railway sections Lviv – Sambir, Lviv – Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv – Rava-Ruska, Lviv – Kovel, Lviv – Krasne, Lviv – Mostyska, Lviv – Stryi, Stryi – Mukachevo, and Ivano-Frankivsk – Chernivtsi, are mainly double-row ones (except natural forests growing along the railway lines) of 200 m in width on both sides of the track. The species composition of the stands is characterized by its diversity depending on forest site type. The trees are often top-drying, from the side of the railway tracks they have windfirm and dense crowns. The undergrowth is suppressed by snow drifts. The protective ecotones are characterized by the distribution of precipitation, soil moisture, and productivity of the adjacent agricultural lands. As a result, a kind of parademe system is formed along the Lviv Railway lines,consortium, that significantly differs from natural one due to overlapping ecological niches. This consortium has much in common with conserved (ecological) corridors because the integrated assessement shows increasing species diversity of agrosystem flora by 17 – 73%, entomofauna – by 27 – 62.5%, zoofauna – by a factor of 2.7 times. According to the field studies, we have classified the protective ecotones of the Lviv Railway by characteristics of profile, i.e. the structure and composition of plantations by their origin. Full-profile protective ecotones are plantations where the structure of shelterbelts (ecotones) can be clearly seen, they can be found in all sections of the Lviv Railway where the protective forest plantations were artificially created. Predominantly, they consist of one or, less common, three strips. Ecotone is formed at the boundary of two different anthropogenic tracts in a railway precinct. Across the study sections of the railway lines, only mixed stands were observed, no pure stands were found. A field study of ties between morphology and function of cumulative and ecosystem engineer; statistical methods investigated the potential protective effect of ecotones Lviv railway. The complex and differentiation characteristics of cumulative function of protective ecotones depends on the morphology and composition of forest communities –edificator. In the structure of vegetation in the consortium of protective ecotones, there is a significant amount of synanthropic and acclimatized species. Active processes are currently observed of human-induced changes in primary stands to form natural-anthropogenic stands in a wider array. The aggregate of protective ecotones at the Lviv Railway is functioning as a single system or forest reclamation complex that serves as the ecological framework where elements and subsystems interact providing a synergistic effect. Proceeding from the necessity of shifting to landscape-ecological principles of management and ensuring the maximum possible protective effect, the creation of a system of protective ecotones is one of the most innovative ways of ensuring ecosystem sustainability, in particular, enhancing their buffering capacity due to partial renewal of forest ecosystems as an integral component of natural landscape, which will provide for environmental safety on railway lines using only natural mechanisms of environmental protection. Method of investigation of environmental safety in railway transport is of great polyfunctional importance as this enables, on the basis of the landscape-ecological methods, to form consortiums of protective ecotones that will provide the maximum spatial-temporal efficacy.