Sanitary condition of native taiga spruce in European Russia

Abstract

The materials of studies carried out in the primary uneven-aged spruce forests of the taiga within European Russia are presented, in the northern taiga spruce forests are studied in the territories of the Arkhangelsk region and the Paanajarvi National Park in the Karelia Republic; in the middle taiga spruce forests are studied in the reserve «Vepssky forest» in the Leningrad region and Andomsky forestry of the Vologda region; in the southern taiga spruce forests of the Central Forest State Biosphere Reserve in the Tver Region are studied. The age and volume of trees growing on permanent test plots were determined, age series of forest stands were modelled, dynamic characteristics were established, estimates of the sanitary condition of trees and stands were made, the infestation of the biotrophic complex with wood-destroying fungi and calculations of the tree waste volume by stages of decomposition were made. A close relationship between the increase in tree damage values and the increase in the age of generations in the age series was revealed, which is interpreted as a pattern: r = 0,98 with mr = 0,05 and t = 140. The dynamics of the formation of age generations in spruce forest stands proceeds much more slowly from 4 to 6 times than the dynamics of wood debris decomposition. The characteristics of the sanitary state of native spruce stands are in the range between weakened and severely weakened communities, with high rates of rotten faults of trees in age generations and stands and significant amounts of tree waste. High rates of rot damage to trees ensure the balance of reproducible and degradable biomass in the dynamics of spruce forests. This balance is formed by differences in the time periods of biomass accumulation and the rate of decomposition of wood waste.