Water-Retaining Ability of Vegetation in the Areas of Landfill Impact

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Abstract:

The water-retaining capacity of vegetation cells depends on their habitat conditions. In dumps, vegetation receives mineral nutrition from the newly formed substrate, characterized by salinity and a depleted nutrient content. The most common representatives of ruderocenoses on the investigated landfills include Plantago major, Lappa major, Artemisia vulgaris, Artemisia absinthium, and Atriplex urbica, which were chosen for the research.

The water-retaining capacity of the landfill vegetation was determined according to A. Arland’s method, based on accounting for the loss of water by fading plants.

The author has established that the Plantago major and Lappa major lose most of the water loss in landfills (by weight). Artemisia vulgaris and Atriplex urbica have shown the most water-retaining capacity. The indicators of the yield of landfill vegetation were transformed into relative values in order to obtain data on the water-holding capacity, depending on habitat conditions.

The lowest values of water retention for vegetation depend on the environment. On the surface of a landfill, they belong to Artemisia absinthium (water loss for 90 min = 19.7%) and Plantago major (water loss for 90 min = 16%); at the bottom of a landfill — Artemisia absinthium (water loss for 90 min = 18.4%) and Plantago major (water loss for 90 min = 17.5%); in a 300 m radius of a landfill’s bottom — Artemisia absinthium (water loss for 90 min = 14.2%) and Artemisia vulgaris (water loss for 90 min = 15.6%).

In general, the most adverse habitat conditions (from the point of view of water loss indicators) are the surface and bottom of a landfill (water loss for 90 min = 14-19.7%). Within a 300 m radius from landfills and more, the water-retaining capacity of plants is higher (water loss for 90 min = 5.8-12.5%).

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