Home – Home – Jornals – Siberian Journal of Forest Science 2019 number 1

As a result of half a century (1970-2017) studies of recovery and age-related dynamics of different types of pine forests in foreforest-steppe and other subzones of Western Siberia and the Urals we have worked out a concept and scheme of their ecologic and genetic classifications based on ecologic dynamic series of biogeocenoses development (EDS BGC) within native autochthonous types of forests. Unlike the monolinear variation of biogeocenoses in course of time within one type of forest site and native forest type in classical genetic Ivashkevich-Kolesnikov typology, we consider the native type of forest as a «bunch» of divergence-convergence of chorologically and ecologically separated types of EDS BGC arising after different forest ecological catastrophes, such as fires, windfalls, pest invasions, tree fellings, stubbing, ploughing up, etc. The main real form of existence and development and syntaxonomic unit of adequate ecological-genetic classification of forest types is the type of EDS BGC as a homogeneous series of their restoration-age-related and century-long plant successions within one native forest type as an ecosystem of higher rank. The general scheme of forest classification based on the EDS BGC as well as dynamic parameters of their structure and diagnostics, are exemplified by predominant forest types relating to moss pine forests in the foreforest-steppe of the Western Siberia. The proposed approaches and methods of chorological ecological-genetic classification of forest types can be applied in forest science and forest management to get a lot of new systematic quantitative information on forest dynamics for its evaluation, development projection and forest management.

The author’s and literature data on the distribution of the Nostoc Nostoc commune Vaucher ex Bornet et Flahault in the terrestrial habitats of Southern Siberia and Mongolia, the size of the biomass formed by the species and the content of nitrogen in the thallus have been analyzed and summarized for the first time. Established in the study region was a location of 84 species. Most of them are confined to steppe, forest-steppe, and meadow plant communities. In the study area Nostoc is often found in forests, while in the mountain tundra it is seldom encountered. The species is able to dominate the vegetation cover of a number of anthropogenically disturbed habitats. As a result of assessing the size of the biomass formed by Nostoc in the steppe, meadow, meadow-forest plant communities of the region, the data were obtained, which, in general, are comparable to those for the steppe and meadow plant communities of Kirov Oblast, the Republic of Bashkiria, and Kazakhstan. Nostoc formed maximum biomass (37 g/m²) on the sod-carbonaceous thick soil of the steppe meadow in Irkutsk Oblast. In the thallus of Nostoc, from 2.7 to 5.1 % of the total nitrogen is accumulated, which exceeds the content of total nitrogen in green mosses and litter of grassy plants of steppe phytocenoses by 2-3 times. The species of Nostoc of the steppe, forest-steppe, meadow plant communities of Southern Siberia and Mongolia contain the same amount of nitrogen as the samples of this species from the zonal tundra of northern Russia.

The results of studies carried out in 48-50-year-old geographical crops of larch in the Ufa forestry district of the Republic of Bashkortostan are presented in the article. The average capacity for survival of the object is 25 %. The highest capacity for survival (30-50 %) and successful growth have been shown by offspring originating from more southern regions (53°-54°10′N) relative to the test site. Assessment of the development of progeny 26 climatypes with the species belonging to the Arkhangelsk larch Larix archangelica Laws., the Siberian larch L. sibirica Ledeb. and hybrid forms of these species, Margilind larch L. marschlinsii Coaz, European larch L. decidua Mill., shows that for growing high-yielding larch crops in the conditions of the Bashkir Urals, it is advisable to use L. archangelica seeds and L. archangelica × L. sibirica , with allowable distances for transferring seeds relative to the area of their use approximately: from the south - up to 2°, from the north - up to 1°, and from the east - up to 3°40′. It is not inferior to the Bashkir populations of L. sibirica obtained from the Sonsky forestry district of the Republic of Khakassia. L. × marschlinsii exhibits a high adaptive capacity with initial origin from Great Britain. Morphological analysis of cones obtained from the settlement of Zapovednik enabled to detect a hybrid form of L. archangelica × L. sibirica with characteristics of Dahurian larch L. dahurica Laws. It should be noted that in the forest crop areas and those of collecting seeds the permissible difference between the heights above the sea level should not exceed 500-550 m. Also when growing mixed stands with a companion species, the heart-shaped linden Tilia cordata Mill should be preferred. In the progeny of the Bashkir climate types, there is a direct relationship between the factors of geographical origin and the size of the cones, while for the Siberian progeny this relationship is inverse. With the moving of the climatic types of origin to the north and east, the cones with wide-chested forms were observed in Bashkortostan, while narrow-scaled forms were found in Siberia.

The analysis of studies on the relations between tree and forest stand biomass and climatic conditions revealed a wide variety of independent variables and their combinations involved as predictors. There are significant contradictions and uncertainties found in modeling of dependences of tree and stand biomass upon temperature and precipitation using both empirical and process-based models. The database on biomass of 2100 single-trees of two-needled pines (subgenus Pinus L.) of Eurasia compiled by the authors, enables to design for the first time a trans-Eurasian harmonized model on the tree biomass structure and to estimate quantitatively the influence of January temperatures and annual precipitation on tree biomass. The harmonization is achieved with additivity of biomass component composition, which means that the total of biomass components (stems, branches, foliage, roots) derived from component equations is equal to the result obtained using a common biomass equation. It is stated, that in cold climatic zones any increase in precipitation leads to a corresponding decrease in the biomass values, but in warm zones - to its increase. In wet areas, the rise in temperature causes an increase of biomass values, but in arid areas - their reductions. Geometric view of this model represented by a «propeller-shaped» surface is consistent with the results formerly revealed by the other authors in Russia on local and regional levels. The proposed transcontinental model of additive structure of tree biomass makes it possible to predict a change of biomass structure in relation to simultaneous increase or decrease of January temperature and annual precipitation. The development of such models for basic forest-forming species grown in Eurasia enables one to forecast any changes in the biological productivity of forest cover of Eurasia in relation to climate change.

Specific features of the blue spruce Picea pungens Engelm. regeneration from mature zygotic embryos in vitro culture under the influence of thidiazuron (TDZ) were studied. It was noted that under the influence of TDZ the explants cotyledons tissues were expanded, and active morphogenesis took place and meristemoids were formed in their epidermal layers. During the plant material subculturing, which was obtained within the first passage, in the hormone-free culture media, the asynchronous development of structures and the variety of morphogenetic pathways were observed: adventitious buds, microshoots and individual needles were formed at different stages of development. This TDZ influence on the regeneration of blue spruce was noted by us for the first time. The maximum microshoots formation with normal morphology was achieved by using a two-stage explants cultivation: induction of morphogenic processes in the ½ LV culture medium at the TDZ concentration of 0.5 μM during the first passage (28 days) followed by transfer of the obtained material to the ½ LV hormone-free medium. The number of microshoots per explant was (70.3 ± 7.5) pcs. With an increase in the TDZ concentration to 1 μM the number of regenerants per explant decreased 1.6 times and the increased duration of the first passage up to 35 days led to anomalies and inhibition of the microshoots development.

The effect of greenhouse gases on climate change is of great importance. In this context, forest ecosystems are seen as a critical mechanism in reducing carbon emissions by storing large quantities of carbon in vegetation and soil. The aim of this study was to compare and monitor biomass carbon sequestered in a range of forest structures subject to different forest planning scenarios. To this end, many scenarios have been tried over a planning horizon of 100 years for 1000-ha hypothetic forests. Two forest sites (both high- and low-productivity) and two rotation ages (70 and 100 years) were studied to analyze the effects of site condition and logging rotation length on carbon stock. Some constraints were also included, such as set aside forest area and volume control. Then, 35 mathematical models were developed using a linear programming technique and solved in LINGO software. Among the models developed, S7 model appeared to be the best in terms of minimizing the carbon loss from forest biomass. With this scenario, only 6447 tons of carbon were lost over 100 years with an even-flow harvesting policy and a mature rotation age (u = 100). The worst model was S4, where there were no constraints and the rotation age was young (u = 70). Almost 215 000 tons carbon loss resulted with the use of S4 model for a 100-year planning horizon. The results showed that the carbon dynamics of forest ecosystem was influenced to a great extent by forest management strategies. Therefore, the application of the optimal strategy involving the use of modern planning techniques is very important for mitigating the effects of global climate change.

The review is written for the book of Yuriy I. Manko «History of forestry in the Far East of Russia. 1859-1922», Vladivostok: Pacific Inst. Geogr., Rus. Acad. Sci., Far East. Branch, 2018. 660 p. (in Russian with English title, summary and contents).