Vitality of pine plantations within the city of Barnaul

The article presents the results of assessing vitality of pine plantations under long-term recreational load. The research results showed that the relative vitality of forest stands and undergrowth is characterized as damaged and weakened, regardless of the type of forest. The results can be used to develop recommendations for forest management in suburban forests.

Introduction. The rapid growth of cities, the increase in the proportion of the urban population brought to the fore the problems of urban ecology and environmental protection. The preservation of natural forests and the creation of protective green spaces in and around the city contributes to a more comfortable and ecological living. A large amount of research on forest plantations is carried out in densely populated regions of the world within urban limits, as well as in suburban forests.

Object. The object of the study is pine plantations in fresh and grassy forests subject to recreational load.

Materials and methods. The work was carried out in the forest reserve of the Barnaul forestry, located within the urban district of Barnaul. At 12 permanent sample plots, the stages of recreational digression, taxation and vitality of the forest stand were assessed, the study of natural regeneration of the forest using methods generally accepted in the forest science was carried out.

Results and conclusions. Pine plantations within the city of Barnaul are subject to long-term anthropogenic load, which is expressed in the form of I-II stages of recreational digression in the grassy forest, II-III stages in the fresh forest. The index of vitality of forest stands shows that in the grassy forest its range is 46.58-78.00 (mean 60.13), in the fresh forest 46.11-80.81 (mean 65.18) and corresponds to the "damaged" vitality in most of the surveyed areas. The distribution of trees according to diameter classes in pine forest stands corresponds to the normal distribution in both types of forests, except for individual areas where the process of natural thinning occurs. Under the influence of recreational load, the main indicators of natural regeneration of the forest change – density, age structure, vitality. The density of undergrowth in the grassy forest is 0.8-2.9 thousand pieces/ha, in the fresh forest it is 3.4-8.8 thousand pieces/ha, while the frequency of undergrowth in the grassy forest is 2 times lower than in the fresh forest. The index of vitality of undergrowth in the grassy forest is 46.8-65.7 (mean 58.4), in the fresh forest 64.3-76.2 (mean 68.9), which characterizes it in most of the surveyed forest areas as «weakened».

1. Gryazkin A. V., Kochkin A. A., Petrik V. V. Dynamics of the composition of vegetation of the lower tiers in park phytocenoses // Izvestia of higher educational institutions. Forest Journal. 2017. № 6 (360). Pp. 46-55.

2. Kuznetsov V. A., Ryzhova I. M., Stoma G. V. Change in the forest ecosystems of the metropolis under the influence of recreational influence // Soil science. 2019. № 5. Pp. 633-642.

3. Belt bores of the Altai Territory - the state and improvement of the economy in them / A. A. Martynyuk, V. M. Sidorenkov, V. I. Zheldak, N. I. Lyamtsev, O. V. Ryabtsev [et al.] // Forestry information. 2019. № 1. Pp. 33-48.

4. Malinovskyh A. A., Malenko A. A. The process of natural resumption of ordinary pine after selective felling in ripe and perestroika plantings in tape forests of the Altai Territory // Bulletin of the Altai State. Agrarian University. 2018. № 1. Pp. 67-72.

5. Malinovskyh A. A., Savin M. A. Natural reforestation on burning in tape forests of Western Siberia // Coniferous boreal zones. 2019. No. XXXVII. № 3-4. Pp. 223-228.

6. Assessment of the biological productivity of the forest environment in urbanization (using the example of the Voronezh upland oak forest) / G. A. Odnoralov, E. N. Tikhonov, I. V. Golyadkin, T. A. Malinin // Izvestia of higher educational institutions. Forest Journal. 2020. № 2 (374). Pp. 60-72.

7. Bedding of urban plantations as an indicator of the intensity of biological cycling in a metropolis / O. V. Semenyuk, V. M. Telesnina, L. G. Bogatyrev, F. I. Zemskov // Soil science. 2022. № 6. Pp. 673-686.

8. Shugaley L. S. Recreational impact on forest biogeocenoses of the Stolby State Nature Reserve // Bulletin of the Krasnoyarsk State. Agrarian University. 2017. № 9 (132). Pp. 189-199.

9. Ecology of the city: retrospective and prospects for study / T. N. Karmanova, N. Yu. Feoktistova, E. A. Fetisova, A. A. Mosalov, A. V. Surov // Journal of General Biology. 2021. № 3. V. 82. Pp. 163-174.

10. Gundersen V., Vistad O. I. Public opinions and use of various types of recreational infrastructure in boreal forest settings // Forests. 2016. V. 7. № 6. P. 113.

11. Lynch A. J. Predictors of tree cover in residential open space: a multi-scale analysis of suburban Philadelphia // Urban Ecosyst. 2022. V. 5. Pp. 1515-1526.

12. Multifunctionality in practice: measuring differences in urban woodland ecosystem properties via functional traits / F. Cardou, I. Aubin, B. Shipley, M. Lapointe // Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. 2022. V. 68. P. 127453.

13. Referowska-Chodak E. Pressures and threats to nature related to human activities in european urban and suburban forests // Forests. 2019. V. 10. № 9. P. 765.

14. Urbanization Affects the Richness of Invasive Alien Trees But Has Limited Influence on Species Composition / G. Heringer [et al.] // Urban Ecosystems. 2022. V. 3. Pp. 753-763.