Abstract
By now, most of the forests in the European part of Russia have been transformed by drastic fires and clear cutting. Significant areas of primary dark coniferous forests in the Northern Urals have been replaced by either birch or aspen stands. These communities pass different stages of secondary succession. They remain understudied despite their wide occurrence. We consider the composition and structure of the tree story and deadwood in two postfire communities (80- and 120-years old). Both fires were initiated from the slash-and-burn cultivation, as has been the practice up to the mid-20th century. The composition of the stands in these communities indicates the gradual replacement of early succession tree species—aspen and willow—by late succession spruce and fir. Weibull function was applied to fit the distribution of diameters of the trees. We show that these communities do not differ by most indicators of stand and deadwood structures and characterize the same successional stage.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aleinikov, A.A., The population and transformation features of natural landscapes of the upper Pechora River in the 15th–19th centuries, Russ. J. Ecosyst. Ecol., 2017, vol. 2, no. 3. doi 10.21685/2500-0578-2017-3-2
Aleinikov, A.A. and Chagin, G.N., Population in Upper Pechora and Un’ya rivers in the middle of 19th–early 20th century, Tr. Pechoro-Ilychskogo Gos. Zapov., 2015, no. 17, pp. 4–12.
Aleinikov, A.A., Tyurin, A.V., Simakin, L.V., Efimenko, A.S., and Laznikov, A.A., Fire history of dark needle coniferous forests in Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve from the second half of 19th century until present time, Sib. Lesn. Zh., 2015, no. 6, pp. 31–42.
Aleinkov, A.A., Smirnov, N.S., and Smirnova, O.V., Tallherb boreal forests on North Ural, Russ. J. Ecosyst. Ecol., 2016, vol. 1, no. 2. doi 10.21685/2500-0578-2016-3-3
Arnol’d, F.K., Russkii les (Russian Forest), St. Petersburg: A.F. Marks, 1893, vol. 1.
Atlas Respubiliki Komi po klimatu i gidrologii (Atlas of Komi Republic on climate and Hydrology), Moscow: Drofa, 1997.
Attiwill, P.M., The disturbance of forest ecosystems: the ecological basis for conservative management, For. Ecol. Manage., 1994, vol. 63, nos. 2–3, pp. 247–300.
Bailey, R.L. and Dell, R., Quantifying diameter distributions with the Weibull function, For. Sci., 1973, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 97–104.
Bobkova, K.S., Kuznetsov, M.A., and Osipov, A.F., Stock of coarse woody debris in spruce forests of the middle taiga in the European northeast, Izv. Vyssh. Uchebn. Zaved., Lesn. Zh., 2015, no. 2, pp. 9–20.
Dyrenkov, S.A., Struktura i dinamika taezhnykh el’nikov (The Structure and Dynamics of Taiga Spruce Forests), Leningrad: Nauka, 1984.
Furyaev, V.V. and Kireev, D.M., Izuchenie poslepozharnoi dinamike lesov na landshaftnoi osnove (Analysis of Postfire Recovery of Forests on Landscape Basis), Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1979.
Furyaev, V.V. and Samsonenko, S.D., Role of fires in development of boreal forests, Lesovedenie, 2011, no. 3, pp. 73–79.
Ganina, N.V., Classification of trees diameter using the Weisbull function, Lesovedenie, 1984, no. 2, pp. 65–70.
Gofman, E.K., Severnyi Ural i beregovoi khrebet Pai-Khoi (Northern Urals and Pai-Khoi Coastal Ridge), St. Petersburg: Imper. Akad. Nauk, 1856, vol. 2.
Gorshkov, V.V., Stavrova, N.I., and Katyunin, P.N., Structure of Betula pubescens (Betulaceae) population in northern-taiga forest communities of different age of disturbance, Rastit. Resur., 2005, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 1–17.
Gove, J.H., Ducey, M.J., Leak, W.B., and Zhang, L., Rotated sigmoid structures in managed uneven-aged northern hardwood stands: a look at the Burr type III distribution, Forestry, 2008, vol. 81, no. 2, pp. 161–176.
Hafley, W.L. and Schreuder, H.T., Statistical distributions for fitting diameter and height data in even-aged stands, Can. J. For. Res., 1977, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 481–487.
Korchagin, A.A., Vegetation of the northern part of the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve, Tr. Pechoro-Ilychskogo Gos. Zapov., 1940, no. 1, pp. 1–416.
Korchagin, A.A., Impact of fires on forest vegetation and its post-fire recovery at European North, Tr. Biol. Inst., Ross. Akad. Nauk, Ser. 3: Geobot., 1954, no. 9, pp. 75–149.
Korennye elovye lesa Severa: bioraznoobrazie, struktura, funktsii (Indigenous Spruce Forests of the North: Biological Diversity, Structure, and Functions), Bobkova, K.S. and Galenko, E.P., Eds., St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2006.
Lankia, H., Wallenius, T., Várkonyi, G., Kouki, J., and Snäll, T., Forest fire history, aspen and goat willow in a Fennoscandian old-growth landscape: are current population structures a legacy of historical fires? J. Veg. Sci., 2012, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 1159–1169.
Latva-Karjanmaa, T., Penttilä, R., and Siitonen, J., The demographic structure of European aspen (Populus tremula) populations in managed and old-growth boreal forests in eastern Finland, Can. J. For. Res., 2007, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 1070–1081.
Leont’ev, A.M., Fruiting of Siberian spruce in upstreams of Pechora River, Tr. Pechoro-Ilychskogo Gos. Zapov., 1963, no. 10, pp. 5–87.
Maltamo, M., Puumalainen, J., and Päivinen, R., Comparison of beta and Weibull functions for modelling basal area diameter distribution in stands of Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies, Scand. J. For. Res., 1995, vol. 10, nos. 1–4, pp. 284–295.
Maltamo, M., Kangas, A., Uuttera, J., Torniainen, T., and Saramäki, J., Comparison of percentile based prediction methods and the Weibull distribution in describing the diameter distribution of heterogeneous Scots pine stands, For. Ecol. Manage., 2000, vol. 133, no. 3, pp. 263–274.
Nat, S., Woods and waters of Pechora region, Vologda province, Lesn. Zh., 1915a, no. 4, pp. 531–561.
Nat, S., Woods and waters of Pechora region, Vologda province, Part 2, Lesn. Zh., 1915b, no. 5, pp. 787–815.
Onuchkov, N.E., Through the Cherdynskii uezd: a trip to the Vishera, Kolva, and Pechora rivers, Zhivaya Starina, 1901, no. 1, pp. 37–74.
Palahí, M., Pukkala, T., and Trasobares, A., Modeling the diameter distribution of Pinus sylvesris, Pinus nigra, and Pinus halepensis forest stands in Catalonia using the truncated Weibull function, Forestry, 2006, vol. 79, no. 5, pp. 553–562.
Pozdeev, E.G., Novgorodova, G.G., and Andreev, G.V., Characteristic of a hundred-year-old postfire birch forest in Visim Nature Reserve, in Statsionarnye biogeotsenologicheskie issledvoaniya na Urale (Stationery Biogeocenotic Studies in Urals), Yekaterinburg, 2009, pp. 119–125.
R Core Team, R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, Vienna: R Found. Stat. Comput., 2015. http://www.rproject.org. Accessed July 1, 2016.
Rubin, B., Manion, P., and Faber-Langendoen, D., Diameter distributions and structural sustainability in forests, For. Ecol. Manage., 2006, vol. 222, nos. 1–3, pp. 427–438.
Shorohova, E., Kuuluvainen, T., Kangur, A., and Jõgiste, K., Natural stand structures, disturbance regimes and successional dynamics in the Eurasian boreal forests: a review with special reference to Russian studies, Ann. For. Sci., 2009, vol. 66, no. 2, p. 201.
Siipilehto, J., Improving the accuracy of predicted basalarea diameter distribution in advanced stands by determining stem number, Silva Fen., 1999, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 281–301.
Smirnova, O.V. and Aleinikov, A.A., Successional systems of boreal forests in European part of Russia, Izv. Samar. Nauch. Tsentra, Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2012, vol. 4, no. 1 (5), pp. 1367–1370.
Smirnova, O.V., Aleinikov, A.A., Semikolennykh, A.A., Bovkunov, A.D., Zaprudina, M.V., and Smirnov, N.S., Spatial heterogeneity of the soil-plant cover in dark coniferous forests of the Pechoro-Ilych Nature Reserve, Lesovedenie, 2011, no. 6, pp. 67–78.
Smirnova, O.V., Aleinikov, A.A., Semikolennykh, A.A., Bovkunov, A.D., Zaprudina, M.V., and Smirnov, N.S., Typological and structural diversity of forest in middle taiga of Urals, in Raznoobrazie i dinamika lesnykh ekosistem Rossii (Diversity and dynamics of Forest Ecosystems of Russia), Isaev, A.S., Ed., Moscow: KMK, 2013, book 2, pp. 42–66.
Smirnova, O.V., Aleinikov, A.A., Smirnov, N.S., and Lugovaya, D.L., Peony taiga, Priroda (Moscow), 2014, no. 2, pp. 54–63.
Sonni, K.M., Cleared lands (virgin soils) in Cherdynskii uezd, Zemled. Gaz., 1840, no. 35, pp. 275–279.
Stavrova, N.I., Gorshkov, V.V., and Katyunin, P.N., Dynamics of tree distribution in Siberian spruce and white birch populations according to trunk diameter in the course of postfire succession in northern taiga spruce forests, Lesovedenie, 2010, no. 3, pp. 21–31.
Stute, W., Manteiga, W.G., and Quindimil, M.P., Bootstrap based goodness-of-fit tests, Metrika, 1993, vol. 40, pp. 243–256.
Teploukhov, A.E., Ustroistvo lesov v pomeshchich’ikh imeniyakh: rukovodstvo dlya urpavitelei, lesnichikh i zemlemerov (Forest Management in Country Estates: The Handbook for Trustees, Foresters, and Surveyors), St. Petersburg: Vol’n. Ekon. O-vo, 1848.
Vostochnoevropeiskie lesa: istoriya v golotsene i sovremennost’ (East European Forests: History in Holocene and in Present Time), in 2 books, Moscow: Nauka, 2004.
Wallenius, T., Major decline in fires in coniferous forests—reconstructing the phenomenon and seeking for the cause, Silva Fen., 2011, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 139–155.
Zhuravleva, I.V., Komarova, A.V., Potapov, P.V., Turubanova, S.A., and Yaroshenko, A.Yu., Less-damaged forest areas in boreal forests of the world. The origin, development, impotence, and probable future of the concept of less-damaged forest areas with regard to boreal forests, Russ. J. Ecosyst. Ecol., 2016, vol. 1, no. 1. doi 10.21685/2500-0578-2016-1-5
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © A.A. Aleinikov, A.V. Tyurin, P.Ya. Grabarnik, A.S. Efimenko, 2018, published in Lesovedenie, 2018, No. 4, pp. 258–272.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Aleinikov, A.A., Tyurin, A.V., Grabarnik, P.Y. et al. Features of the Stand and Deadwood in Postfire Aspen and Birch Forests in Northern Urals. Contemp. Probl. Ecol. 11, 789–801 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1995425518070132
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1995425518070132