Comparative assessment of Western Podolia meadow steppes (Ukraine) based on the synphytoindication method

The steppe vegetation of the meadow steppes of Western Podolia, Ukraine, belongs to the extrazonal type, and its distribution is mainly determined by edaphic, namely geological and geomorphological, factors rather than climatic ones. The aim of our study is to establish the determinant ecological factors that have the greatest differential impact on the distribution of meadow steppe plant communities of Western Podolia on the base of a synphytoindication analysis. There were 8 study sites within the study area in the L’viv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. To determine the coenotic affinity of the studied species, 48 relevés were analysed. Numerical classification based on the Modified TWINSPAN algorithm divided the dataset into five clusters, which have been identified as the associations Pastinaco sativae-Arrhenatheretum elatioris, Geranio sanguinei-Trifolietum alpestris, Inuletum ensifoliae, Jurineo calcareae-Stipetum capillatae and Lembotropio nigricans-Potentilletum arenariae. Ecological features of the communities were analysed by means of a DCA ordination and phytoindication assessment. The results of gradient analyses indicate that the distribution of meadow steppe communities in the Podolia Upland closely correlates with a number of climatic (thermoregime and continentality of climate) and especially edaphic (soil humidity, soil acidity and carbonate content) ecological factors