The Effect of Oil Pollution of the Gray Soils on Revegetation in the South of Kazakhstan

To assess the level of soil contamination with oil and petroleum products, the criterion of the cenotic level as the nature of the phytocenosisformation was used. It was found that the bioindication reaction of vascular plants to oil pollution is the deterioration of quantitative and qualitative indicators of the native phytocenosis with possible self-recovery of the plant community at the threshold concentrations of petroleum products 6.0±0.3–8.0±0.5 l/m2. Light fractions of oil products cause complete destruction of the existing plant community, and the new community is formed at the expense of the soil stock of seeds and drift ruderal plant species. Dark fractions of petroleum products cause structural changes in the species composition of the existing phytocenosis. The most resistant to oil pollution of the soil are the representatives of the Poaceae family, and the representatives of the families Solanacee and Malvaceae are eliminated from the phytocenosis. For 8 years of research, the projective cover of soil with vegetation is reduced to 92.6±6.3–99.6±0.4%.