Changes in natural landscapes and economic activities lead to the loss of a large proportion
of the steppes, especially in Ukraine. Recent studies have demonstrated the high importance of
cultural heritage sites, includes with old cemeteries. Over the past centuries, most of the steppes
we studied have been converted to cropland, but the cultural importance of the old cemeteries may
have helped prevent their destruction through ploughing. We investigated floristic composition of
50 old cemeteries in various urban landscape of southern Ukraine. The area of the old cemeteries
varies from 0.3 ha to 32.5 ha. The floristic composition includes 684 species belonging to 356 genera,
81 families, 4 classes and 2 divisions. The total number of species within cemetery varied from 82
to 236 (on average 171 species). The flora of old cemeteries is species-rich, including protected and
native, steppe and non-synanthropic species. We recorded 64 protected vascular plant species in
the studied old cemeteries, which represents 9.2 % of the total species pool. Our records show that
old cemeteries act as hot-spots for biodiversity: the high number of protected, steppes (40.2%) and
non-synanthropic species (36.55%) in the floristic composition indicates a good level of preservation
of steppes at the old cemeteries in southern Ukraine.
Acta Botanica Caucasica от Бакинского государственного университета распространяется по лицензии CC BY 4.0
