Dynamics of Spruce Population Under the Canopy of Birch Forests of the Southern Taiga of the Russian Plain

Complete text of the article:

Download article (pdf, 0.5MB )

UDС

630*231.1: 630*451.2

DOI:

10.17238/issn0536-1036.2016.2.47

Abstract

Based on the stationary studies we analyzed the subordinate spruce population in relation to the age development stages of birch forests in the southern taiga of the Russian Plain. The sorrel-blueberry birch forests at the age of 37… 105 years were observed. Through the age development stages of birch forests the state of the spruce population degrades, the share of weakened and damaged trees increases from 29 … 83 %. The tree damage rate in depend-ence to different factors varies from 18 … 36 %. In the 95-year-old birch forests the share of such trees reaches 32 %. We revealed three types of spruce damage: defoliating of crowns more than 50 %, scrapping trunks, trunks bark damage. Spruce representation of the first two types of damage in the monitored birch forests varies within a limited range (5.8 ... 8.1 %). The loss of such trees cannot significantly affect the formation process of spruce forests. Serious consequences for the spruce population can be caused by bark peel-ing damage by moose. Spruce damageability in the second layer in the average is 33 %, reaching a maximum (47 %) in the 95-year-old birch forests. Wounds often do not heal for 30 years, harmful insects and rots damage the wood; trees are exposed to a windbreak. One of the reasons for the deterioration of spruce is a butt rot. The share of such trees in the first and second layers of a stand varies from 6 to 17 %. The greatest number of the trees dam-aged by a butt rot (0.14 thousand pcs / Ha) is observed in the birch forests in the stage of weak thinning and growth (at the age of 100 years). By the age of birch natural maturity about 0.40 thousand pcs / Ha of trees of the first and second layers can survive in a spruce population, while only 160 can be considered as normal. Within the period of birch natural maturity (120 years) the subordinate spruce population can develop into the low-density spruce stands of the IV locality class.

Authors

A.A. Deryugin, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Senior Research Officer M.V. Rubtsov, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Professor

Affiliation

Institute of Forest Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sovetskaya str., 21, Uspenskoe, Moscow Region, 143030, Russian Federation; e-mail: da45@mail.ru

Keywords

central part of the Russian Plain, southern taiga, sorrel-blueberry birch forest, subordinate spruce population, state, damage, dynamics.

References

1. Merzlenko M.D. Los' i kul'tury eli [Moose and Spruce Plantations]. Lesnoe kho-zyaystvo, 1974, no. 3, pp. 54–55.
2. Rubtsov M.V., Deryugin A.A. Dinamika vozrastnoy struktury populyatsii eli pod pologom yuzhno-taezhnykh bereznyakov Russkoy ravniny [The Dynamics of the Age Structure of Spruce Population Under the Canopy of the Southern Taiga Birch Forests of the Russian Plain]. Khvoynye boreal'noy zony [Conifers of the Boreal Area], 2013, vol. ХХХI, no. 1–2, pp. 9–14.
3. Rubtsov M.V., Deryugin A.A. Rost eli pod pologom yuzhno-taezhnykh bereznya-kov i posle rubki ikh s sokhraneniem podrosta [Spruce Growth Under the Canopy of the Southern Taiga Birch Forests and After Their Cutting in the Condition of the Undergrowth Conservation]. Lesnoy zhurnal, 2007, no. 2, pp. 19–27.
4. Rubtsov M.V., Nikitin A.P., Deryugin A.A. Porazhenie gnil'yu eli v protsesse formirovaniya ee populyatsii pod pologom yuzhno-taezhnykh bereznyakov [Rot Damage of Spruce in the Formation of Its Population Under the Canopy of the Southern Taiga Birch Forests]. Stroenie, svoystva i kachestvo drevesiny [The Structure, Properties and Wood Quality]. Saint Petersburg, 2004, vol. II, pp. 456–457.
5. Smirnov K.A. Vliyanie povrezhdeniy kory eli losem na prirost i smenu porod v yuzhnoy tayge [The Influence of Spruce Bark Peeling Damage by Moose on the Growth and Change of Wood Species in the Southern Taiga]. Lesovedenie, 1981, no. 4, pp. 56–65.
6. Smirnov K.A., Seryakov A.D. Reaktsiya eli evropeyskoy na povrezhdenie kory losem v yuzhnoy tayge [The Reaction of the European Spruce on Bark Peeling Damage by Moose in the Southern Taiga]. Lesovedenie, 2005, no. 2, pp. 32–37.
7. Smirnov K.A., Seryakov A.D. Vliyanie izbiratel'nogo povrezhdeniya kory eli losem na ekosistemy yuzhnoy taygi [The Effect of Selective Spruce Bark Peeling Dam-age by Moose on the Ecosystem of the Southern Taiga]. Lesovedenie, 2009, no. 4, pp. 72–78.

Received on May 23, 2015