Middle-Term Сhanges in Topsoils Properties on Skidding Trails and Cutting Strips after Long-Gradual Cutting: a Case Study in the Boreal Forest of the North-East of Russia

In this work, physical and chemical properties of the upper horizons of podzolic light loamy soil were investigated 21–23 years after forest cutting. This was after the first shift of long-term, gradual felling was carried out by tree-length logging in wintertime in mixed conifer stands of the Middle Taiga of the Arkhangelsk Region in Russia. The increased density of the forest litter composition was observed. This was especially the case on skidding trails. On the forest floor of skidding trails subjected to a greater stress caused by timber skidding, lower total porosity and aeration porosity was observed, in comparison with the cutting strip and natural forest. It was established that timber skidding during wintertime does not affect the density of podzolic horizon composition. An inverse pattern was observed here: the total porosity and the aeration porosity became higher and were close to the optimum values for plant growth (54.16–52.99% and 15.72–19.97%). In the podzolic horizon on skid roads, comparison to the natural forest showed a significant reduction of phosphorus mobile forms and an increase in the amount of absorbed bases, which is the result of grassy vegetation overgrowth and natural birch regeneration. On skidding trails and cutting strips, the organic matter content and total nitrogen significantly increased, which is related to a change of light intensity, the composition of living ground cover and vigorous decompositions of the organic horizon and woody residues. In cutting areas, a system mosaic of soil cover developed, which differed according to favourable conditions for tree species regeneration, compared to the control stands

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) reaction to climate change in the provenance tests in the north of the Russian plain

Species with continuous distribution area will be impacted by climate change in different ways. That is related to the population’s geographical position and climate features of the population formation. Short-term response of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) was studied with taken into consideration intraspecies features of populations. Provenance tests in the Arkhangelsk (62.60 N, 39.98 E) and Vologda (62.60 N, 39.98E) regions located in the north of the Russian Plain were used. Provenances collection (23 provenances from the northern, middle, and southern taiga subzones and mixed forest zone) from areas with different climate characteristics was considered. Clinal variability and a reaction norm of vegetative and generative response to various levels of temperature change and seed transfer were studied. Average actual height and diameter values for 31-year provenances and calculated values for provenances were compared using ‘latitudinal growth coefficient’ proposed by I.V. Volosevich (1984) for the north of the Russian Plain. Provenance reproductive ability response was assessed using seed-bearing trees’ numbers in provenances of the 1st class of age. Pine growing in the north of the Russian Plain would respond to warming by productivity increasing more significantly than pine growing in the south. Response of pine from the northern and middle taiga subzones on climate warming can be expected on 1.01 m and 1.12 cm to temperature rise by 100°C for height and diameter, and 0.85 m and 0.93 cm for seeds transfer to 1 degree of northern latitude to southward. Probable reaction norm for pine reproduction potential under temperature change by 100°C of the sum of the temperatures above 10ºС and seed transfer by 1 degree of northern latitude can be expected about 6%

Soil and vegetal shifts in meadows under conditions of alluvial lithogenic matrix on islands in the delta of the Northern Dvina River

In this paper we represent the results of our research: a scheme of plant and soil succession changes on the alluvial lithogenic matrix in the zone of river and marine accumulation in the delta of the Northern Dvina river. We used more than 1000 geobotanical and 200 soil descriptions. The succession scheme of the transformation of meadow communities in the river accumulation zone is represented in this work. This scheme occurs both in the natural processes of phytocenosis and soil development, as well as in agrogenic influence, as well as a number of successional changes during formation of meadows in the zone of marine accumulation

GIS-analysis of the Influence of the Land Use Type on the Current Diversity of Forest Plantations in the Kenozersky National Park

The problem of agricultural land abandonment is a worldwide problem. In the forest zone, the transformation of fallow lands is associated with afforestation and the formation of so-called secondary forest growths. Postagrogenic forests reflect the agricultural history of fallow areas, which imprint the "mute" realities of time and the social order of their development. The type of previous land use creates sufficiently stable factors, which in the process of natural overgrowth are weakly changed by natural factors and affect the emerging forests. In the key area of Kenozersky National Park (middle taiga forest region), located in the Plesetsk District of the Arkhangelsk region, we traced, according to the 1861 boundary plans, the regularities of evolution of land use areas of different categories during forest overgrowth. We assessed the area, tree species and typological structure of modern forests according to the 2014 forest inventory and traced the connection between the transformation of agro-ecosystems into forests and the history of the use of these lands after the land survey. As of the year when the boundary plans were drawn up, more than half of the territory of the key site was under agrarian influence (arable land, perelogs, haymaking, etc.). After 160 years a forest massif was formed (97 % of the territory), in which a part of hayfields was preserved. First of all, perelogs and hayfields were overgrown with forests (99 and 85 %, respectively). The allocation characterization of taxation descriptions of forest stands showed that bilberry and oxalis type pine forests were formed more often (89,7; 81,0; 78.5 %, respectively) on abandoned arable lands, perelogs and hayfields. All formed stands, classified as bilberry and oxalis type pine forests during forest inventory, have rather high productivity (I–II quality classes) and mixed composition. Forests of lower quality classes (III and IV) were rewealed in the formation of bilberry forest type. At present about 70 % of the bilberry and oxalis type pine forests on the 1861 boundary plan, formed on arable land, are dominated by birch (more than 3 units), about 10 % – by gray alder; the share of stands dominated by aspen is high. Reduced soil fertility on swidden plots ensured a more stable position of pine in the composition of emerging stands (60 % of pine-dominated stands). The character of tree species composition in stands formed on hayfields corresponds to lands with high soil fertility, which indicates the formation of hayfields on abandoned arable land. The studies have demonstrated significant differentiation of derived forest landscapes, sometimes hidden due to the widespread growth of the main forest-forming species and the formation of zonal-type forests. Intralandscape differentiation associated with the history of agricultural development has been preserved for more than 100 years and requires close study. Acknowledgements: The study was carried out within the framework of the theme "Identification of objects of slash-and-burn and swidden farming on the territory of Kenozersky National Park". For citation: Kozykin A.V., Nakvasina E.N. GIS-analysis of the Influence of the Land Use Type on the Current Diversity of Forest Plantations in the Kenozersky National Park. Lesnoy Zhurnal = Russian Forestry Journal, 2023, no. 5, pp. 27–41. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2023-5-27-4

Soil and vegetal shifts in meadows under conditions of alluvial lithogenic matrix on islands in the delta of the Northern Dvina River

In this paper we represent the results of our research: a scheme of plant and soil succession changes on the alluvial lithogenic matrix in the zone of river and marine accumulation in the delta of the Northern Dvina river. We used more than 1000 geobotanical and 200 soil descriptions. The succession scheme of the transformation of meadow communities in the river accumulation zone is represented in this work. This scheme occurs both in the natural processes of phytocenosis and soil development, as well as in agrogenic influence, as well as a number of successional changes during formation of meadows in the zone of marine accumulation

Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris

Species with continuous distribution area will be impacted by climate change in different ways. That is related to the population’s geographical position and climate features of the population formation. Short-term response of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) was studied with taken into consideration intraspecies features of populations. Provenance tests in the Arkhangelsk (62.60 N, 39.98 E) and Vologda (62.60 N, 39.98E) regions located in the north of the Russian Plain were used. Provenances collection (23 provenances from the northern, middle, and southern taiga subzones and mixed forest zone) from areas with different climate characteristics was considered. Clinal variability and a reaction norm of vegetative and generative response to various levels of temperature change and seed transfer were studied. Average actual height and diameter values for 31-year provenances and calculated values for provenances were compared using ‘latitudinal growth coefficient’ proposed by I.V. Volosevich (1984) for the north of the Russian Plain. Provenance reproductive ability response was assessed using seed-bearing trees’ numbers in provenances of the 1st class of age. Pine growing in the north of the Russian Plain would respond to warming by productivity increasing more significantly than pine growing in the south. Response of pine from the northern and middle taiga subzones on climate warming can be expected on 1.01 m and 1.12 cm to temperature rise by 100°C for height and diameter, and 0.85 m and 0.93 cm for seeds transfer to 1 degree of northern latitude to southward. Probable reaction norm for pine reproduction potential under temperature change by 100°C of the sum of the temperatures above 10ºС and seed transfer by 1 degree of northern latitude can be expected about 6%

Impact of Experimentally Elevated Ozone on Seed Germination and Growth of Russian Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Spruce (Picea spp.) Provenances

The impact of elevated ozone concentrations on early ontogenetic stages of pine (Pinus sylvestris) and spruce (Picea abies, Picea obovata, P. abies X P. obovata) seedlings originating from different provenances in Russia were studied in the open-field ozone fumigation system located in Kuopio, Finland, over a span of 2 y. The AOT40 value (accumulated ozone dose over the threshold 40 ppb during daylight hours) was 11 ppm hr per growing season, which was 1.4 times higher than the ambient air concentration. The plants were measured for germination rate; shoot increment; needle length; and dry mass of needles, shoots, and roots. Significant differences between pine and spruce provenance response to ozone were found in all parameters. Ozone stress immediately reduced the germination rate of Northern pine provenances, whereas biomass reductions became evident during the second year of the exposure in all pine provenances. Spruce species were more tolerant to elevated ozone concentrations. Our results indicate that seedling development is vulnerable to increasing ozone concentrations and that attention must be paid to the provenance selection