Comprehensive assessment of the condition of the black oak (<i>Quercus robur</i> L.) in the urban coenoses of Central Donbass

In the conditions of Donbass, with the previously existing negative factors of anthropogenic stress in the industrial region, as well as the accumulation of new anthropogenic challenges, a number of problems arise related to the stability and development of biological systems. The stability of dendrocoenoses and the survival program itself is considered as the ratio between the magnitude of the stressful effect and the degree of damage to its various components (organisms, populations, communities). The paper presents a comprehensive ecological and biological assessment of the condition of Quercus robur L. trees growing on the territory of Enakievo, based on dendrological and entomological studies. Trees that are severely weakened with significant damage to plant trunks and disruption of crown architecture, which correlates with the fluctuating leaf asymmetry index (0,074 ± 0,03) and is assessed as an ecological crisis of dendrocoenoses. Morphological and mechanical damage to the trunk (curvature, multi-barrel, leathery and foreign inclusions) was determined, and their classification was given. The identified defects significantly lead to a weakening and increased vulnerability of trees to dendrophilous insects. According to the results of the study of acorns, a high percentage of damage was found – 87%, which negatively affects fruiting and germination of seedlings. Larvae of caprophages from two families (Curculionidae and Tortricidae) were also found. The lesion of the leaf plates of Acrocercops brongniardella (Fabricius, 1798) averages 0,72%. This indicator did not significantly affect the condition of the stands.