Records of vascular plants at the old cemeteries in the Right-Bank of Dnipro Grass Steppe District (Southern Ukraine)

Occurrence
Latest version published by Kherson State University on Dec 30, 2024 Kherson State University
Publication date:
30 December 2024
Published by:
Kherson State University
License:
CC-BY 4.0

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Description

Anthropogenic activities have led to a significant loss of natural habitats in the world over the last few centuries (Löki et al. 2019) and in Ukraine (Burkovskyi et al. 2013). Steppe flora is preserved mainly in protected areas, ravines, gullies, river terraces etc. (Burkovskyi et al. 2013). Cultural heritage sites, such as burial mounds (kurgans), old settlements and old cemeteries, could also preserve as sites for the preservation of biodiversity (Löki et al. 2019). Recently, studies in different countries have recognized the natural value of old cemeteries and other cultural heritage sites (Löki et al. 2019). «Plant diversity and species-area relationships modelling of steppe enclaves within old cemeteries of Northern Prychornomoria region (Northern Black Sea Region) of Southern Ukraine» are research expeditions in 2023/2024 aimed at collecting high-quality biodiversity data in cultural herritage objects - old cemeteries. This dataset contains 6862 occurrences of 622 vascular plants species recorded in 39 old cemeteries. The nomenclature of the dataset follows “Ukrainian Plant Trait Database: UkrTrait v. 1.0” - (Vynokurov et al. 2024) with minor edits. To avoid data duplication, this dataset does not include the materieals of our previous research in the Lower Dnipro Region that are part of another dataset (https://doi.org/10.15468/h82vw6) published before.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 6,862 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Skobel N, Moysiyenko I (2024). Records of vascular plants at the old cemeteries in the Right-Bank of Dnipro Grass Steppe District (Southern Ukraine). Version 1.0. Kherson State University. Occurrence dataset. https://ukraine.ipt.gbif.no/resource?r=oc_flora&v=1.0

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Kherson State University. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: de0b1cd2-142e-4a22-961f-a2edc36a2ed9.  Kherson State University publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.

Keywords

Occurrence; old cemeteries; steppe; biodiversity; cultural heritages sites

Contacts

Nadiia Skobel
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • User ●
  • Point Of Contact
Kherson State University
UA
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4354-2881
Ivan Moysiyenko
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
Kherson State University/ Falz-Fein Biosphere Reserve "Askania-Nova" NAAS of Ukraine
UA
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0689-6392

Geographic Coverage

Dnipopetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa administrative Regions, Southern Ukraine

Bounding Coordinates South West [45.53, 30.103], North East [47.961, 34.805]

Taxonomic Coverage

All vascular plants were identified to species.

Kingdom Plantae

Project Data

No Description available

Title Plant diversity and species-area relationships modelling of steppe enclaves within old cemeteries of Northern Prychornomoria region (Northern Black Sea Region) of Southern Ukraine
Funding Field research supported by projects IAVS Special grant to support research. «Plant diversity and species-area relationships modelling of steppe enclaves within old cemeteries of Northern Prychornomoria region (Northern Black Sea Region) of Southern Ukraine» and Ukraine Future Leaders Program. The project 'Creation of Protected Areas in Ukraine (2024–2025),' implemented by the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group with the support of the Fondation de France.

Sampling Methods

We have searched for old cemeteries in the bibliographical sources and open sources for research. The selection of old cemeteries in 2023-2024 for the research was based on ongoing materials from the Google map "Ancient Cemeteries of Ukraine" (Ukraine Incognita 2024) and biographic data on the dates of foundation of human settlement community (History of villages of the Ukrainian SSR 1953, Schubert Maps 1965). The area and boundaries of the old cemeteries were determined using Google Earth and include the entire area of the old cemeteries, including the area of new burials if the old cemetery was extended (Google Earth 2024). We employed a visual analysis based on satellite images, with a particular focuses on the selection of non-developed and non-phanerophytes covered cemeteries. In order to conduct an investigation of the flora of the area and the presence of refuge of steppes at the old cemeteries, we follow next criteria, which could only be checked in the field. Presence of protected species Red Lists of Regions (Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council 2011; Kherson Regional Council 2013; Mykolaiv Regional Council 2012; Odesa Regional Council 2011), Red Data Book of Ukraine (Didukh 2009), etc. Presence of bunch-grasses (or tussock grasses such as Festuca, Koeleria, Stipa etc.) and other steppe species. High proportion of native species in comparison to alien species (Protopova 1991). To obtain this dataset, we investigated flora of 39 old cemeteries in the investigated area. To include different phenological aspects we visited each site in different seasons of a year: in spring (April/May), summer (July), and autumn (October).

Study Extent The study area is situated in the Right-Bank of Dnipro Grass Steppe District is in Northern Black Sea Region. The territory includes parts of Dnipopetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa administrative Regions. This area is situated in the south-western part of the Steppe Zone of Ukraine in one geobotanical zone using the national classification system namely fescue-feather grass steppes (or bunch-grass/grass steppes) (National Atlas… 2007).
Quality Control Some specimens of the vascular plants were collected as herbarium for determination and verification after the fieldwork. After digitizing the data, we harmonised the taxonomic information according to the nomenclature sources: for vascular plants “Ukrainian Plant Trait Database: UkrTrait v. 1.0” - (Vynokurov et al. 2024). Then we used GBIF Backbone Taxonomy (GBIF species matching tool: https://www.gbif.org/tools/species-lookup) for the taxonomic check and implemented minor corrections of species names regarding misprints and problematic taxa to avoid misinterpretation. We additionally checked and verified the header data using OpenRefine (https://openrefine.org/), and QGIS 3.38 (https://qgis.org) for quality control.

Method step description:

  1. Site selection, field research.
  2. Identification of herbarium specimens of vascular plants.
  3. Recording and identification of vascular plants with using road-field methods and VegApp.
  4. Digitizing the field data forms.
  5. Data checking and cleaning.
  6. Transformation of the dataset according to the Darwin Core standards.
  7. Taxonomic check, final quality control.

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Burkovskyi, O.P., Vasyliuk, O.V., Yena, A.V., Kuzemko, A.A., Movchan, Y.I., Moysiyenko, I.I., Sirenko, I.P. 2013. Ostanni stepy Ukrayiny: buty chy ne buty? [The last steppes of Ukraine: to be or not to be?]. Geoprint, Kyiv, 38 pp. [in Ukrainian]
  2. Didukh, Ya.P. (ed.) 2009. Chervona knyha Ukrainy. Roslynnyi svit [Red Data Book of Ukraine. Plant Kingdom]. Globalkonsaltyng, Kyiv, 912 pp. [in Ukrainian]
  3. Dnipopetrovsk Regional Council. 2011. Pro zatverdzhennya Chervonykh spyskiv tvaryn ta roslyn Dnipropetrovsʹkoyi oblasti [Approval of the List of Species of Animals and Plants under Special Protection in the Territory of Dnipopetrovsk Region and their Regulations]. Decisions of the session of the Dnipopetrovsk Regional Council № 219-10/VI since 27.12.2011. Dnipro, 14 pp. [in Ukrainian]
  4. Google Earth. 2024. Google Earth. URL: https://earth.google.com/web/ [accessed 31 May 2024].
  5. Kherson Regional Council. 2013. Chervonyi spysok Khersonskoi oblasti [Red List of Kherson Region] Decisions of the XXVI session of the Kherson Regional Council of the VI convation № 893 since 13.11.2013. Kherson, 13 pp. [in Ukrainian]
  6. Löki, V., Deák, B., Lukács A.B., Molnár V.A. 2019A. Biodiversity potential of burial places – a review on the flora and fauna of cemeteries and churchyards. Global Ecology and Conservation 18: 1–14. https://10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00614
  7. Maps of Schubert. 1965. Etomesto – old maps online. http://www.etomesto.ru/shubert/
  8. Moysiyenko І.І., Skobel N.O., Sudnik-Wójcikowska B., Dembicz I., Zachwatowicz M., Zakharova M.Ya., Dzerkal V.M. (2021). Old cemeteries as refuge of the steppe flora in Southern Ukraine. Chornomorski Botanical Journal, 17 (3): 194–217. http://10.32999/ksu1990-553X/2021-17-3-1
  9. Mykolaiv Regional Council. 2012. Pro zatverdzhennia Pereliku vydiv roslyn, yaki pidliahaiut osoblyvii okhoroni na terytorii Mykolaivskoi oblasti, ta Polozhennia pro noho [List of plant species that are subject to special protection on the territory of Mykolaiv Region and their Regulations]. Decisions of the Mykolaiv Regional Council. Mykolaiv, 12 pp. [in Ukrainian]
  10. Odesa Regional Council. 2011. Pro zatverdzhennia Pereliku vydiv tvaryn i roslyn, yaki pidliahaiut osoblyvii okhoroni na terytorii Odeskoi oblasti, ta Polozhennia pro noho.
  11. Protopopova, V.V. 1991. Sinantropnaya flora Ukrainy i puti ee razvitia. [Synantropic flora of Ukraine and ways of its development]. Naukova Dumka, Kyiv, 204 pp. [In Russian]
  12. Rudenko L.H. et al. (Eds.). 2007. Geobotanical zoning. In National Atlas of Ukraine (pp. 196-197). Kyiv: State Scientific and Production Enterprise “Kartographia” (a). 440 pp.
  13. Skobel N, Moysiyenko I, Sudnik-Wójcikowska B, Dembicz I, Zachwatowicz M, Zakharova M, Dzerkal V, Marushchak O (2023). Vascular plants of old cemeteries of Lower Dnipro region (Southern Ukraine). Version 1.8. Kherson State University. Occurrence dataset. accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-11-19. https://doi.org/10.15468/h82vw6
  14. Skobel N, Moysiyenko I, Sudnik-Wójcikowska B, Dembicz I, Zachwatowicz M, Zakharova M, Marushchak O, Dzerkal V (2023) Vascular plants of old cemeteries in the Lower Dnipro region (Southern Ukraine). Biodiversity Data Journal 11: e99004. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e99004
  15. Skobel N.O., Moysiyenko І.І.. (2022). Stari tsvyntari mista Khersona yak refuhium stepovoi flory. [Old cemetereies of city of Kherson as a refuge of steppe flora]. Chornomorski Botanical Journal 18 (1): 52–70. [in Ukrainian] https://doi.org/10.32999/ksu1990553X/2022-18-1-3
  16. Ukraine Incognita. 2024. Starovynni tsvyntari Ukrainy iz kamianymy kozatskymy ta davnoukrainskymy khrestamy [Ancient Cemeteries of Ukraine with Stone Cossack and Ancient Ukrainian Crosses]. URL: https://ukrainaincognita.com/mista/karta-starovynnykh-tsvyntariv-z-kam-ianymy-kozatskymy-khrestamy [in Ukrainian]
  17. Ukrainian Soviet encyclopedia Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Istoriia mist i sil Ukrainskoi RSR: V 26 t. [History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR: In 26 vols]. [in Ukrainian]
  18. Vynokurov D, Borovyk D, Chusova O, Davydova A, Davydov D, Danihelka J, Dembicz I, Iemelianova S, Kolomiiets G, Moysiyenko I, Shapoval V, Shynder O, Skobel N, Buzhdygan O, Kuzemko A (2024) Ukrainian Plant Trait Database: UkrTrait v. 1.0. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e118128. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e118128

Additional Metadata