Starodubtseva E., Khanina L.
RJEE Vol. 9 (3). 2024 | DOI: 10.21685/2500-0578-2024-3-2
Abstract | PDF (Rus) | Additional files
Receipt date 25.04.24 | Publication date 26.09.2024
ASPEN-DOMINATED STAND SUCCESSION IN THE VORONEZHSKY STATE NATURE RESERVE: PATTERNS ON THE SECOND FLOODPLAIN TERRACE OF THE VORONEZH RIVER
E.A. Starodubtseva1, L.G. Khanina2
1 Voronezhsky State Reserve, Voronezh, Russia
2 Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences – branch of the M.V. Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Russia
1 starodbtsv@gmail.com, 2 khanina.larisa@gmail.com
Abstract. In 2012, natural decay of stands dominated by aspen (Populus tremula) started in the Voronezhsky State Nature Reserve. The aspen-dominated stands were formed here as a result of clear-cut logging which was widespread in the area prior to the establishment of the Reserve. The study was conducted within the second floodplain terrace of the Voronezh River. The analysis of vegetation data of different years, forest inventory data of 1937, 1965, 1992, 2013 and archival materials of the Reserve allowed us to describe successional changes in aspen forests growing among pine forests in ecological conditions of fresh pine forest and middle-fresh pine forest (types of ecological conditions A2 and B2) and in ecological conditions of middle-fresh oak forest (C2D). In C2D conditions, stands of late successional species Acer platanoides and Tilia cordata are formed. These species form the undergrowth beneath the aspen canopy, and as the aspen falls out, they form the second and then the first layers of the stands. In A2 and B2 conditions, the species composition of late successional stands is more diverse: besides Acer platanoides and Tilia cordata, it includes Ulmus laevis, Fraxinus excelsior, and Quercus robur, as well as, in the presence of soil disturbances, alien species – Acer negundo and Fraxinus lanceolata. At the time of the study, no closed canopy had yet formed in A2 and B2 conditions; the ratio of species in the emerging stands will be determined by the ecological characteristics and population strategies of these tree species. The additional to the previously known factors determining the species composition, spatial and ecological-coenotic structure of vegetation formed after the decay of aspen stands were revealed. Among them, the most important are the landscape type ecological conditions, relief position, species composition of the initial community, type and intensity of exogenous disturbances, including the presence of wild ungulates, potential of seed flow for late successional tree species, etc. The peculiarities of growth and ecology of late successional tree species forming the undergrowth layer in decaying aspen forests of the Reserve are described.
Keywords: Populus tremula, aspen forest, stand decay, succession, successional shift, ecological conditions of fresh and middle-fresh pine forest, ecological conditions of middle-fresh oak forest, late successional tree species, tree undergrowth
For citation: Starodubtseva E.A., Khanina L.G. Aspen-dominated stand succession in the Voronezhsky State Nature Reserve: patterns on the second floodplain terrace of the Voronezh river. Russian Journal of Ecosystem Ecology. 2024;9(3). (In Russ.). Available from: https://doi.org/10.21685/2500-0578-2024-3-2