Results of Long-Term Studies of Annual Growth of Mosses of the Genus Sphagnum L. in the Central Taiga of Karelia

Abstract

The studies were carried out on the territory of the Kindasovo forest-bog research station of the Karelian Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, located in the middle taiga subzone (61°48′ N and 33°35′ E). The experiments were carried out in the Nenazvannoe natural mesoeutrophic bog of the aapa type in seven permanent bog areas located in different ecological and coenotic conditions. The paper presents long-term results (from 10 to 38 years) of studies of the dynamics of annual growth of 11 widespread hygro- and hydrophilic species of sphagnum mosses. Based on fluctuations in the average annual growth data during the years of study, the largest increases were observed for Sphagnum riparium (140 mm) and S. obtusum (93 mm), growing in heavily watered bog areas and not withstanding drying out; medium growths of S. fallax (65 mm), S. subsecundum (57 mm), S. majus (42 mm), S. balticum (36 mm), and S. warnstorfii (28 mm) are found in low-flow watered bogs, hollows, and on carpets; the lowest growth was shown for S. divinum (17 mm), S. centrale (15 mm), S. papillosum (12 mm), and S. fuscum (8 mm), growing on ridges, low hummocks, and carpets under conditions of sharply variable conditions hydration. A correlation analysis to study the influence of precipitation and average temperature on the annual growth of sphagnum mosses did not show any significant dependence of moss growth on temperature during the growing season. For S. fuscum, S. obtusum, and S. warnstorfii, negative dependences on the temperature of individual months are observed in different months of the growing season. Precipitation during the growing season is the main factor determining the dependence of the annual growth of sphagnum mosses. A significant dependence of annual growth on precipitation during the growing season was shown for species S. obtusum, S. papillosum, S. centrale, S. fallax, and S. subsecundum, while the significance was weak for S. divinum, S. fuscum, and S. majus.