Taxus baccata L. Under Changing Climate Conditions in the Steppe Zone of the East European Plain

The aim of the work is to analyze the survival strategy of Taxus baccata L., one of the promising plants for landscaping and the creation of woodlands, in the changing ecological conditions of the steppe zone of the Donetsk ridge. In order to achieve this goal, we used biomechanics methods, which help to understand the relationship between the physical and mechanical properties of living tissues and the overall stability of trees during interactions with environmental factors such as temperature, snow and ice storms, cyclic freeze&ndash:thaw processes, wind loads, and others. The work was based both on experimental studies on the estimation of the tissue elasticity modulus in response to temperature changes, the mechanical stability of plants, the field collection of materials, and studies on the modeling of forest stand conditions of English yew. As a result of the conducted experiments, it was established for the first time that at the absolute wood moisture content of 77 &plusmn: 5.1%, the density of wood tissues in the conditions of Donetsk is 907 &plusmn: 43 kg m&minus:3. The modulus of elasticity of living tissues depending on the temperature factor varied in the following range: 8.8 &plusmn: 0.31 GN m&minus:2 (T = 288 K), 11.5 &plusmn: 0.55 GN m&minus:2 (T = 255 K) and 6.9 &plusmn: 0.47 GN m&minus:2 (t = 308 K). It was revealed that during the local thawing of skeletal branches and tables, the mechanical resistance of T. baccata is reduced by 20&ndash:22% and this critically affects the overall plant resistance. It was established for the first time that T. baccata in the conditions of the steppe zone has an adaptive strategy of preserving the integrity of the organism under the action of environmental factors with limited loads. The secret lies in the formation of the shape memory effect, under the influence of critical loads. The plant, thus, chooses not migration, not death, but adaptation to changes in environmental conditions, which can become a serious factor in the use of T. baccata in the landscaping of urban areas and the creation of artificial forests.