The initial stages of succession in cutting areas with different technologies for reforestation in the Kirov region
Forest management measures carried out on clear-cutting sites, such as the creation of forest crops and measures to promote natural regeneration, contribute to a change in the ecological situation, especially the succession and biological diversity, in the formation of new biogeocenoses in the clear-cutting areas. The features of restoration successions at the initial stages (the first decade) of the formation of the forest environment at cuttings from under pine forests with minnow and lingonberries in the ground cover in the Kirov region were studied. The objects of the study were cutting areas with the subsequent restoration of pine forest cultures and with the assistance of natural restoration by preserving the undergrowth after clear-cutting in 2009-2016 in pine forests with lumber and lingonberries in the ground cover. As a control object, we selected a forest stand in a natural state, corresponding to the objects of study by type of forest, species composition, and close age. It has been established that the creation of forest crops changes the structure of the undergrowth in terms of species composition: pine prevails, planted as a monoculture, while spruce undergrowth prevailed in the plantation before felling. On cutting areas with forest crops, fewer forest species of plants and more weeds are noted compared to cutting areas where undergrowth was preserved, as well as with the control plot. Already at the initial stages of the self-healing succession of the cutting area with the preservation of undergrowth in terms of the structure of vegetation of the living soil cover, it is closer to the original stands with minnow and lingonberry than the cutting areas with forest crops. However, by the end of the first decade, there is a tendency toward a convergence of the vegetation structure in the cutting areas with different methods of reforestation. This implies further stabilization of ecosystem biodiversity in accordance with habitat conditions and the growth of an edificator rock.