Search

One of the essential tasks of sustainable forest management is to maintain native biodiversity. Primary forest research is one of the ways to understand what this biodiversity is. Matherials and methods. The primary, as confirmed by their land-use history and structural peculiarities, mesic dark-conifer forests remain in Visim and Pechora–Ilych nature biosphere reserves (boreal and sub-boreal zones respectively, the Ural Mountains, Russian Federation). We compared the primary forests and post fire 100-year small-leaved deciduous forests by diversity of vascular flora and soil invertebrate macrofauna. Results and discussion. The diversity of some functional groups of species (low boreal herbs, earthworms) in post fire forests is lower than in primary forests, the research shows. These species largely depend on deadwood and other tree-related microhabitats common in the primary forests but not so in the 100-year post fire forests. Repeated fires at intervals of several decades, as is the case with the use of prescribed fires in forest management, will be expected to reduce the biodiversity quality of these specialist species. Additionally, we revealed that post fire forest flora is more synanthropic in the woodland of a small area (Visim reserve) than in the intact forest landscape (Pechora–Ilych reserve). It demonstrates that, within extensive woodlands, native forests are more resilient to sporadic stand-replacing disturbances than small woodlands. Conclusion. Strict conservation of intact forest landscapes is necessary as they serve as large buffer areas around the remaining primary forests to maintain native biodiversity.

Solving the problems of sustainable existence of the biota in Northern Eurasia requires a detailed analysis of the interactions between human and nature at the initial stage of the development of this territory. Paleoreconstructions of the structural and functional organization of the biota in the analyzed territory at different stages of its development constitute the necessary basis for solving the problems of preserving and restoring natural laws, which are absolutely necessary for a deep understanding of natural mechanisms, as the main condition for the survival of mankind. The initial stage of interaction between human and nature called “appropriating economy” was marked by the destruction of complementary systems – the basis of the sustainable existence of nature as a whole. The main reason is the almost complete destruction of the giant phytophagous mammoth complex. The next period of interaction between human and nature is “the stage of the productive economy”, in which slash-and-burn agriculture became the main method of agricultural development of forest areas in Northern Eurasia. This type of Nature management caused a decrease in the productivity of forest ecosystems, associated with the loss of nutrients after the burning of the stand, with the loss of soil biota and a decrease in soil fertility. Thus, the pre-anthropogenic biota is replaced by modern fragments of anthropogenically transformed areas. Currently, when the still preserved species and their groups cannot be maintained by nature itself, we need to develop and implement large-scale measures to restore the biota and its climate-regulating functions as soon as possible.

This commentary is devoted to the article by V. G. Gorshkov and A. M. Makaryeva (2020), in which the division of biota in forest ecosystems is considered using the concepts of both "immotile life" and "locomotive life". The article presents well-known arguments to prove the erroneousness of using such concepts, because motion is a fundamental property of living creatures and is realised at all levels of living system organisation. Representatives of all the kingdoms are widely distributed in space at different stages of the life cycle. In opposite the view by Gorshkov and Makarieva (2020), which the large herbivorous are destroyers of terrestrial ecosystems emphasizes, in the current commentary is considered the importance of mammals in forests, for the circulation of matter and energy flow in forest ecosystems to maintain biodiversity and the efficiency of trophic systems.

Most woodlands of the Northern Eurasia are represented by bilberry-green moss spruce-fir forests. At the same time, a tall herb type of spruce-fir forests that occupies a much smaller area was identified and described. The objective of this work is to evaluate and compare the species richness and productivity of the ground vegetation of tall herb spruce-fir (unique) and bilberry-green moss spruce-fir (typical) forests of the Northern Urals. Based on previous studies, two forest types were selected in the foothill part of the Pechora-Ilych nature reserve with tall herb and bilberry-green moss ground vegetation, where total mapping, determination of microsite area and geobotanical descriptions had been carried out previously. Material for determination of the aboveground and below-ground phytomass and chemical composition of plant species was collected in 2017–2018. The concentrations of C and N in plant samples were measured on the elemental analyzer, and Mg, Al, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Fe, and Zn content was found using the method of measuring mass fraction of the element in powder samples by X-ray fluorescence analysis. It was found out that the total phytomass of vascular plants in the ground vegetation of tall herb forests is 5 times higher than that of bilberry-green moss forests. The phytomass of mosses, on the contrary, is 4.4 times lower in tall herb forests in comparison with bilberry-green moss forests. Examination of ecological-coenotic groups of plants in terms of the content of chemical elements taking phytomass in consideration shows that the greatest contribution to the accumulation of macro- and microelements in the tall herb spruce-fir forest is made by the plants from tall herbs, boreal dwarf shrubs and boreal small herbs groups; in the bilberry-green moss spruce-fir forest, the main role is played by mosses and boreal dwarf shrubs. To assess the content of biogenic elements in the ground vegetation a differentiated approach was suggested, which included accounting for above-ground and below-ground phytomass by ecological-coenotic groups of plants within different types of microsites.

The state of the Earth's living cover raises serious concern about its ability to successfully exist and fully implement its ecosystem functions in modern conditions. Hence the need to revise our relationship with the Nature on the basis of modern scientific achievements reflected in the concept of complementarity which is mutual favour of living beings during their lives and after death. Data analysis has shown that complementary relations on the territory of Northern Eurasia were most developed during the Miocene – Pliocene period, which resulted in a huge biodiversity, the highest productivity, as well as the maximum implementation of climateregulating functions of the Biota. Mass destruction of the giant herbivores of the mammoth fauna who organized complementary systems had global consequences, i.e. changes in the temperature regime, reduction of feed resources, decreased soil fertility, changes in the size and boundaries of ranges of animals, plants, fungi and representatives of other kingdoms as well as the replacement of complementary systems of giant herbivores and grasses by systems dominated by trees which made these landscapes unsuitable for remaining the herbivores. Further transformations of the Biota of Northern Eurasia were determined by human activity.

The reconstruction of the verbal pre-anthropogenic Northern Eurasia forest cover has been proposed on the basis of paleontology and historical ecology data analysis. It was used as a basis for evaluating the ability of the reserves in the studied area to act as reference objects capable of performing the ecosystem living soil cover functions. The analysis indicated immense anthropogenic transformation of the Biota in this territory and the requirement for urgent measures to restore the full-fledged Biota of the reserves at the state and global levels. A list of necessary activities for the initial phase of Biota recovery in the modern protected areas has been proposed.

Old-growth spruce and spruce-fir forests can be extremely variable in the composition and diversity of their ground layer of vegetation, sometimes with over 10 times difference in diversity between various forests. What is the reason for such a big difference? Here we propose a hypothesis that the ground layer of vegetation is most strongly affected by fire history of boreal forest ecosystems. We estimated composition, structure and diversity of vascular plant and bryophyte species in seven forest types in old-growth forests dominated by either Picea obovate or Picea obovate together with Abies sibirica, which were located in the plains of the Komi Republic. All the study areas were either at elevated or hilly plains with good and moderate drainage, or in valleys of small rivers and streams, away from wets and bogs. We analyzed Landolt’s species ecological values, coverage of vegetation layers and deadwoods at different stages of decay, bedrock parameters, and soil charcoals in order to explain differences in the plant species composition and diversity. We showed that there are weak but statistically significant correlations between the coverage of deadwoods at different decay stages and vascular species composition and a positive correlation between the total deadwood coverage and bryophyte species diversity. Among the studied forests, those that are dominated by boreal and nitrophilous tall herbs (located in watersheds and in river valleys respectively), have no fire scars on stems of Pinus spp. and almost no charcoal in the soil and demonstrate the highest species diversity. We estimated that these forests have not experienced fires for over 400 years. In contrast, the diversity of vascular plants in the forests dominated by green mosses, dwarf shrubs, small boreal herbs and large ferns was low; we evaluated that the last time when these forests suffered intense multiple fires was at least 150 years ago.

From the prospective of ecosystem ecology, the huge role of the concept "complementarity" in perceiving the mechanisms of sustainable existence of the natural (pre-anthropogenic) biota is substantiated. A comparison of structural and functional organization between the paleobiota of Northern Eurasia and its fragments, survived until the present day, the modern biota, was performed in the main types of conservation areas. The incompleteness of the modern biota in natural reservations and its main cause are shown: direct or indirect destruction of key species that determined the possibility of the existence of large groups of subordinate species is described. It has been found out that as the anthropogenic exploration of Northern Eurasia intensifies, the ability of the biota’s fragments ("debris") to support ecosystem functions of the biosphere decreases. It is concluded that a fundamentally new direction in the protection of nature is to be developed: "Pleistocene Rewilding" formed on a world-wide basis as a result of the awareness of the need for active restoration of the biosphere functions of the Earth's ground cover.

Background. One of the pressing aims of today’s natural resource management is its re-orientation to preserving and restoring ecological functions of ecosystems, among which the function of biodiversity maintenance plays an indicator role. The majority of today’s forests have not retained their natural appearance as the result of long-standing human impact. In this connection, refugia studies are becoming particularly interesting, as they give us an insight into the natural appearance of forests. Materials and methods. Studies were performed in dark conifer forests of the Pechora–Ilych reserve, in the lower reaches of the Bol’shaya Porozhnyaya River in 2013 yr. Vegetation data sampling was done at 50 temporary square plots of a fixed size (100 m2) randomly placed within a forest type. A list of plant species with species abundance was made for each forest layer. The overstorey (or tree canopy layer) was denoted by the Latin letter A. The understorey layer (indicated by the letter B) included tree undergrowth and tall shrubs. Ground vegetation was subdivided into the layers C and D. Layer C (field layer) comprised the herbaceous species (herbs, grasses, sedges) and dwarf shrubs together with low shrubs, tree and shrub seedlings. The height of the field layer was defined by the maximal height of the herbaceous species, ferns, and dwarf shrubs; the height varied from several cm to more than 200 cm in the ‘tall-herb’ forest types. Layer D (bottom layer) included cryptogamic species (bryophytes and lichens). Species abundance in the each layer was usually assessed using the Braun-Blanquet cover scale (Braun-Blanquet 1928). The nomenclature used follows Cherepanov’s (1995) for vascular plants, and Ignatov & Afonina’s (1992). Results. The present article contains descriptions of unique tall-herb boreal forests of European Russia preserved in certain refugia which did not experience prolonged anthropogenic impact or any other catastrophes. Comparative research into species and ecological diversity of typical (anthropogenically transformed) and unique (tall-herb) boreal forests has been conducted. On the basis of the collected field data, a map of the diffuse area for tall-herb boreal forests has been compiled and a set of species characteristic for these forests has been determined. The obtained data fundamentally change our notions of potential vegetation in boreal forests. Conclusions. Considerable species- and ecological diversity of tall-herb forest flora fundamentally changes our notion of the appearance of European boreal forests and determines their unique role in maintaining the highest possible level of biodiversity. The presence of tall-herb forests in various parts of eastern European taiga together with Eurasian habitats of most tall-herb species lead us to a suggestion that it is exactly this type of forests that represented the prehistoric boreal forests. In this connection, further research into still preserved fragments of tall-herb forests within the boundaries of northern Eurasia acquires huge significance. This research will help put forward systems of forest management aimed at restoring potential biodiversity of boreal forests in general.