In the west Donbass region, there is currently rapid change in the hydrology, geomorphology and soil conditions, as a result of coal mining in the Samara River valley. Underground flooding with highly mineralized coal water has resulted in the formation of marshland soils in wet areas under pine woods, and in the salification of forest-meadows, meadows, and flood-plain soils. In sandy areas saucer-shaped depressions (100-500 sq.m) like natural hollows appear. After pines have died because of the underground flooding, aspen-birch woods form. In these ecosystems biodiversity is either reduced (even down to one species in the canopy and 3-5 species at grass level) or increase by incoming ruderal plants. In inundated areas, woodland of small-leaved elm, tartar maple and oak have been shown to be depressed (25% of trees have dry tops; underwood is also often inhibited). These woods become similar to oak forests of the halophytic type, with a simplified structure. Although trunks are numerous, trees and bushes do not form a closed canopy, so steppe and meadow herbaceous plants (up to 40%) and ruderal plants (up to 25%) intrude into the plant cover, displacing forest grasses. Halophytic plants average 15-50%. In the most flooded areas, marsh ecosystems with many weeds are formed. Estimation of the activity levels in bird communities connected with plants, by calculating the day time budget (DTB) for one autotrophic species, has shown that this activity is 3-4 times lower in disturbed woodland, compared with the analogous ecosystems outside the flooded area. In the second concentric circle, responsible for storage of primary autotrophic production, activity was observed to be lower by 10%. The large participation by species normally specific to edges of woodland (up to 30% DTB) and the intrusion of ubiquitous species into all three concentric circles was notable. The main pattern seems to be that plant communities in disturbed ecosystems contain a higher incidence of species common to other communities. Practical application of this research could promote a stable ecology with optimal species diversity.