Species Structure of the Aboveground Phytomass of Association Trollio asiaticae–Populetum tremulae Dymina ex. Ermakov et al. 2000

The aboveground phytomass of the herbaceous layer of the association Trollio asiaticae–Populetum tremulae (absolute dry weight) and its species structure have been determined. It is found that, from the 37 species, two dominant species made up 80% of the total phytomass. Moreover, only five species have more than 1% of total phytomass each, and the rest cover only 6.7%. A comparison with published data about the phytomass of the different layers and fractions of plant communities shows that the phytomass of the herbs layer is equal to or even more than the photosynthetically active phytomass of the tree layer. Therefore, in this ecosystem, there are two equal layers of photosynthetic activity: the herbs layer and the tree layer.