The impact of clear-cutting on the plant biodiversity of middle-taiga spruce forests

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Abstract

The effect of principal felling in mature middle taiga Siberian spruce forests (Piceetum myrtillosum, Piceetum polytrichoso-sphagnosum) on the number of undergrowth and the species composition of the herb-dwarf shrub and moss-lichen layers was studied. It was found that on 4-year-old spruce clear-cuts the average density of undergrowth varies from 7.0 to 8.8 thousand ind.·ha-1. The ground cover composition completely or almost completely lacks the most typical species of mature spruce forests such as Oxalis acetosella, Gymnocarpium dryopteris, Deschampsia flexuosa, Galium boreale, Lycopodium clavatum, and L. annotinum. An extensive spread of the light-demanding pioneer species Chamaenerion angustifolium is observed. A comparative assessment of the projective cover and species diversity showed that successional processes occur in the living ground cover.

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About the authors

N. V. Likhanova

Pitirium Sorokin Syktyvkar State University; Syktyvkar Forest Institute – branch of St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University named after S. M. Kirov

Author for correspondence.
Email: lihanad@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Syktyvkar; Syktyvkar

Y. A. Bobrov

Pitirium Sorokin Syktyvkar State University

Email: lihanad@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Syktyvkar

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2. Fig. 1. The amount of undergrowth (left) and undercut (right) on the clear-cuts of Piceetum myrtillosum (1) and Piceetum polytrichoso-sphagnosum (2). Y-axis: amount of undergrowth and undercut, ind. ha–1

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3. Fig. 2. The state of Siberian spruce undergrowth on the clear-cuts of Piceetum myrtillosum (A) and Piceetum polytrichoso-sphagnosum (B). Blue – healthy, orange – uncertain, grey – dying off.

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4. Fig. 3. Ordination of the studied Siberian spruce communities and clear-cuts along the axes of the Shannon index and Pielou evenness index values. VM – Piceetum myrtillosum; SM – Piceetum polytrichoso-sphagnosum; VM_4_1 and VM_4_2 – skidding road and forest swath on the 4-year-old clear-cut of Piceetum myrtillosum; SM_4_1 and SM_4_2 – skidding road and forest swath on the 4-year-old clear-cut of Piceetum polytrichoso-sphagnosum. X-axis – Shannon index; y-axis – Pielou evenness index.

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5. Fig. 4. Similarity dendrogram of the studied communities (Euclidean distance, complete linkage) based on Jaccard index (left) and Ruzicka measure (right). 1 – Piceetum myrtillosum before felling; 2 – 4-year-old clear-cut of Piceetum myrtillosum (skidding roads); 3 – 4-year-old clear-cut of Piceetum myrtillosum (forest swath); 4 – Piceetum polytrichoso-sphagnosum before felling; 5 – 4-year-old clear-cut of Piceetum polytrichoso-sphagnosum (skidding roads); 6 – 4-year-old clear-cut of Piceetum polytrichoso-sphagnosum (forest swath).

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6. Fig. 5. The share (%) of the species of different ecological groups in Piceetum myrtillosum community before felling (blue), after felling on skidding roads (orange) and forest swaths (gray). Ecological groups according to: A – soil moisture: 1 – dry forest-meadow, 2 – fresh forest-meadow, 3 – humid forest-meadow, 4 – slightly damp forest-meadow, 5 – damp forest-meadow, 6 – wet forest-meadow; B – soil richness in mineral salts: 1 – semioligotrophic, 2 – submesotrophic, 3 – mesotrophic, 4 – permesotrophic, 5 – semieutrophic; C – soil richness in nitrogen: 1 – subanitrophic, 2 – geminitrophic, 3 – subnitrophic; D – soil solution reaction: 1 – peracidophilic, 2 – mesoacidophilic, 3 – subacidophilic, 4 – neutrophilic; E – ecotope illumination: 1 – clearing, 2 – shrubs, 3 – sparse forest, 4 – open forest, 5 – dense open forest; F – ecotope moisture variability: 1 – constantophilic, 2 – subconstantophilic, 3 – hemicontrastophilic.

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7. Fig. 6. The share (%) of the species of different ecological groups in Piceetum polytrichoso-sphagnosum community before felling (blue), after felling on skidding roads (orange) and forest swaths (gray). Ecological groups according to: A – soil moisture: 1 – dry forest-meadow, 2 – fresh forest-meadow, 3 – humid forest-meadow, 4 – slightly damp forest-meadow, 5 – damp forest-meadow, 6 – wet forest-meadow; B – soil richness in mineral salts: 1 – semioligotrophic, 2 – submesotrophic, 3 – mesotrophic, 4 – permesotrophic, 5 – semieutrophic, 6 – subeutrophic; C – soil richness in nitrogen: 1 – subanitrophilic, 2 – geminitrophilic, 3 – subnitrophilic; D – reaction of soil solution: 1 – peracidophilic, 2 – mesoacidophilic, 3 – subacidophilic, 4 – neutrophilic, 5 – subalkaliphilic; E – illumination of the ecotope: 1 – clearing, 2 – shrubs, 3 – sparse forest, 4 – open forest, 5 – dense open forest; F – variability of ecotope moistening: 1 – constantophilic, 2 – subconstantophilic, 3 – hemicontrastophilic, 4 – subcontrastophilic.

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