Ecological characteristic of pesticide tomb in the Warmia Region on the basis of index numbers of vascular plants

An ecological characteristic of the surrounding of the pesticide tomb in the Warmia Region was prepared on the basis of index numbers of Poland’s vascular plants in May and June 2002. The results lead to the conclusion that indicators of tropism, the organic matter content of the soil and nitrophylity denote high soil poverty, which are inconsistent with the history of this location. This area used to be a waste disposal site of residues generated in the process of managing post-slaughter waste and carcasses. Presumably some other factor determines such low values of the indicators mentioned above. The indicators analyzed were: lower than expected tropism indicator and a low indicator of organic matter content and particularly the dispersion of values of the nitrophylity indicator denote the existence of a new factor, which modifies the content of species in the communities that we analyzed. The humidity indicator and the indicator of soil mechanical composition confirm the presumed direction of rainwater flow and probable leakage from the pesticide tomb. The flow stays in agreement with the topographic features and the characteristics of the soils that occur in the analyzed area. Soil acidity ranges from: 5.5 to 6.5 pH. Climatic indicators are quite stable, the continentality indicator in particular, and they are typical of North-Eastern Poland. The diversity of the thermal indicator is caused by surface features. A large participation of weeds from the upper plant layer and topographic diversity, both influence the diversity of the luminous indicator. Further research is recommended in order to exclude or confirm the emerging hypothesis of the modifying influence of pesticides deposited in the tomb on the characteristics of the flora and the fauna of the nearby ecosystems.