Characteristics of Above-Ground Vegetation Cover and Litter Structure of Specially Protected Natural Areas in Moscow

The predominance of nemoral (larch, spruce, and linden forests), meadow (birch forest), and weed-ruderal (pine forest) species has been revealed in the herbaceous layer in weakly tramsformed ecosystems on the territories of urban specially protected natural areas. Such species compositions are not typical for natural zonal phytocenoses. Boreal species are found in small numbers in all phytocenoses, with their proportion reaching 35% only in larch forests. At the same time, the typology, reserves, and spatial distribution of soil litter in deciduous and coniferous phytocenoses of specially protected natural areas correspond to these characteristics of natural phytocenoses, with the exception of pine phytocenosis. Among the studied tree species, spruce, as an edificator species, exhibits the most stable influence on the conditions of formation of terrestrial detritus. The biological cycle intensity in deciduous phytocenoses is higher than in coniferous ones, as evidenced by data on the typology and reserves of soil litters. Litters, as an ecosystem component and an important link in the biological cycle, are very stable in urban environments and can retain properties of natural analogues in the absence of significant anthropogenic impact, unlike living ground cover. It is proposed to use an integrated approach based on the analysis of a number of informative and most accessible indicators of herbaceous cover and soil litter for express indication of the metropolis impact on forest ecosystems. It has been established that litter of pine phytocenosis is more sensitive to the influence of the metropolis.