Information and analytical botany in solving environmental monitoring issues

Based on empirical data on the state of plant organisms under neo-anthropogenic transformations, a rationale is provided for identifying a functional branch of knowledge – information-analytical botany – in the context of its implementation for environmental monitoring of an industrial region. The unit of accounting for the information flow is the recording of the specific or non-specific response of the sensory elements of an indicator plant to changes in environmental factors, including pathogenic ones. The set of identified sensory effects in plants (160 species of angiosperms and 60 species of bryophytes) forms the basis for analyzing their behavior in the general desire to survive in unfavorable environmental conditions. Examples of structural and functional responses in plant organisms that have informational significance for environmental monitoring implemented in the Donbass are provided.