A white willow forest continues to grow on the dried soil of the former Kakhovka Reservoir in the Dnipro region. Ecologist Vadym Manyuk told about this in a commentary to Suspilne, UNN reports.
Details
Almost a year after Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, a dense forest has formed on 150,000 hectares of the former reservoir. Most of the territory is occupied by white willow, which has been growing there for two years and has reached 2.5-3 meters in height.
It was expected that the willow would take such a position in the floodplains. It is a pioneer that always settles first on sandbanks and spits along rivers, river valleys, and water bodies. Accordingly, the bottom of the Kakhovka Sea in the first year after the dam was destroyed became a huge sand spit. These are just perfect conditions for willow germination. It's amazing how many seeds there are, because in one season, virtually out of nowhere, they were enough to sow the entire Velykyi Luh. Almost 150 thousand hectares of natural plantations were formed
The ecologist says that new seeds have no chance of germinating in this area because there is no running water. So now the trees will compete with each other, and over time, the natural process of self-dilution will begin: eventually, there will be only one tree per 10 meters.
The ecologist also notes that plants native to the banks of water bodies will also gradually disappear.
Recall
Ecologists predictedthat a willow forest would form on the site of the Kakhovka reservoir. Scientists also argued that there would be no desert or invasive species there.