Plant diversity of steppe enclaves within old cemeteries of the Northern Black Sea Region (Southern Ukraine): first results of an ongoing project

We conducted our study in the Northern Black Sea Region of Ukraine.We inventoried the flora of 50 old cemeteries, mainly focusing on well-preserved old cemeteries with steppe vegetation of the class Festuco-Brometea and established, at the old cemeteries, 20 nested plots of seven grain sizes from 1 cm 2 to 100 m 2 ("EDGG biodiversity plots").We focused on the evaluation of species richness, the presence of protected species, the potential of old cemeteries as refuges for steppe vegetation, and on the species richness of steppe plant communities in the old cemeteries.This article includes the results of the previous investigations carried out in 2007-2024.The species list includes 688 species of vascular plants recorded at the 50 old cemeteries.In addition, a subset of 204 species was recorded within the biodiversity plots.We summarize the scale-dependent richness values and compare them with data from another study within the steppe area (the EDGG 15 th Field Workshop).The flora of old cemeteries includes 66 protected species with different conservation statuses: 3 species are listed in Resolution 6 of the Bern Convention, 16 species in the Red Data Book of Ukraine and 49 species in the Regional Red Lists of the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa administrative regions.We propose a series of measures for the future preservation and conservation of old cemeteries in Ukraine.