Problems of biodiversity conservation of birch groves of the steppe Ural zone

An assessment of the taxonomic, structural, and functional biodiversity of birch groves of the steppe Ural zone which are unique phytocenoses that determine the structure of forest cover in areas with a regular lack of forest cover, is presented. Such communities play an important role in maintaining the ecological balance of the natural environment, namely in preserving biological and landscape diversity due to the formation of communities in contrasting physiographic conditions. We used the classical standard approaches of geobotany and the original methods of phytoindication of ecotopes, and the analysis of the aggregate parameters of the environment of ecocenoelements on the scales of the optimum of H. Ellenberg. The ecosystem function of biodiversity conservation is shown due to the formation of microsites: birch grove, feather grass steppe, willow community, petrophyte-steppe associations, at the contact points of which ecotone zones appear, differing due to the differentiation of physiographic conditions of great variety and sustainability of natural complexes. The necessity of preserving the complex of birch beam forests with a special aesthetic, scientific and cultural value for the conservation of biodiversity is shown.