PRELIMINARY NATURAL FOREST REGENERATION IN OVERGROWN OAK FORESTS OF THE CHERNOBYL NPP EXCLUSION ZONE
In the zone exclusion of the Chernobyl NPP under the influence of a complex of environmental factors, the area of oak forests is reduced, their typological structure is changing. The lack of economic activity for 30 years has led to the increase in the density of the stands and the proportion of other species in their composition. This contributed to the growth of the density of the crowns of the stands, the deterioration of lighting conditions under their canopy and the formation of а less dense understory than in the exploited forests. Natural regeneration in high-aged oak forests differs by forest types. Its quantity varies from medium density to thick and very thick. The number of oak in the undergrowth of oak groves osseous and snyte is single, in the eagle and floodplain reaches an average density. Among the economically valuable species in the undergrowth, the maple usually prevails, in the conditions of moist soils - the ash, in the floodplain oak forests - the oak. Unsatisfactory renewal of oak, maple and ash in the oak forests of the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl NPP is due to the predominance of small plants. The regeneration of oak in is area hampered by the high density of shade-tolerant species in the woody layer or by soil contamination. The regeneration of maple and ash is negatively affected by the undergrowth of the hornbeam and the understory of the buckthorn. The satisfactory course of natural regeneration of oak occurs in separate plantations of oak groves in the grass-flood plain.