Metsäntutkimuslaitos Skogsforskningsinstitutet Finnish Forest Research Institute www.metla.fi

Vepssky forest Vepssky forest –– RESTORE research RESTORE research objectives and methodological designobjectives and methodological design

Ekaterina Shorohova, Ilkka Vanha-Majamaa

Original planning of the research programme and experiments:

Stanislav Dyrenkov†, Viktor Fedorchuk, Sergey Savitsky†

60.23-60.17 N35.13-35.18 ELocationLocation

10.6.2010 2

General characteristicsGeneral characteristics

10.6.2010 3

Landscape structure: land Landscape structure: land categoriescategories

0200

400

600800

1000

12001400

Are

a, h

aNaturalstands

Bogs Lakes andstreams

Roads andrides

Land categories

Peatlands

Border of the core area, 1975 ha

Buffer zone

Core area

10.6.2010 4

0100

200

300

400

500

600700

800

Are

a, h

a

Pine Spruce Birch Aspen

Dominant tree species

Landscape structure: Landscape structure: dominant tree speciesdominant tree species

Landscape structure: Landscape structure: site classessite classes

10.6.2010 5

050

100150200250300350400450500

Are

a, h

a

1 2 3 4 5 5а

Site class

10.6.2010 6

Landscape structure: Landscape structure: forest typesforest types

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Vaccinosum Ledosum Oxalidosum Carex-Sphagnosum

Sphagnosum Fragmitoso-Sphagnosum

Myrtillo-Sphagnosum

Myrtillosum

10.6.2010 7

Landscape structure: Landscape structure: Growing stockGrowing stock

01000020000300004000050000

600007000080000

Gro

win

g sto

ck, m

3

Pine Spruce Birch Aspen

Dominant tree species

Total

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Gro

win

g sto

ck, m

3 ha-1

P ine Spruce Birch Aspen

Dominant tree species

Average

Landscape Scale: objectives 1Landscape Scale: objectives 1

Effect on the landscape structure ofLand use/conservation history Disturbance (mainly fire and windthrow) regime

Dynamics of the landscape characteristicsTree species compositionGrowing stock, basal areaMean tree height and DBH by tree speciesSpatial structure, distribution and ratio of the stands with different age structure and dynamic phaseGap dynamicsTree meta-population age and size structure

10.6.2010 8

Landscape Scale: objectives 2Landscape Scale: objectives 2

Carbon dynamicsAtmosphere

PhytomassCoarse Woody Debris

Litter and Soil

NPPDecomposition

Mortality

LitterfallDecomposition

10.6.2010 9

Landscape Scale: objectives 3Landscape Scale: objectives 3

The landscape stabilitySearching for ‘steady state’ when the biomass and other characteristics do not changeLandscape resistance to windthrow, resilience and elasticity after windthrow in 1983Landscape resistance to clear felling (in buffer zone), resilience and elasticity after clear felling

10.6.2010 10

DefinitionsDefinitions

1.1. Resilience Resilience -- returning to the returning to the reference state after a disturbancereference state after a disturbance

2.2. Resistance Resistance -- remaining essentially remaining essentially unchanged despite the presence of unchanged despite the presence of disturbances disturbances

3.3. Elasticity Elasticity -- speed of return to the speed of return to the reference state after a disturbance.reference state after a disturbance.

10.6.2010 11

Landscape Scale Landscape Scale Materials and Methods 1.Materials and Methods 1.

Satellite imagesAir photography (1:12 000, 1:15 000) in 1970, 1981, 1991, and 1996 yearsArchive materials, peat and

dendrochronological dataGIS

10.6.2010 12

1997# of gaps: 63

Total area in gaps: 28.8 haAverage gap size: 0.46 ha

Landscape area 1975 ha

1981 # of gaps: 8

Total area in gaps: 1.52 haAverage gap size: 0.19 ha

10.6.2010 13

10.6.2010 14

0

1

2

3

4

5

1908

1913

1918

1923

1928

1933

1938

1943

1948

1953

1958

1963

1968

1973

1978

1983

1988

1993

1998

2003

Год

шир

ина ко

льца

, мм

1931

1943

Fire events

Landscape Scale Landscape Scale Materials and Methods 2.Materials and Methods 2.

Mapping the forest stand age structure types (1:10 000) in connection with mapping the forest types, site types and soils in 1978–1979 yearsForest inventory data in 1913, 1961, 1973, 1983, 1994 yearsRegularly placed permanent circular sample plots (74 plots of 0.1 ha each) established in 1991-92 years with tree stand and regeneration inventoriesPermanent transects established in 2000 with tree, CWD and regeneration inventories

Circular plots

Forest compartments: tree stands with similar tree stand structure and site conditions

10.6.2010 15

Stand and Patch Scales: objectives 1Stand and Patch Scales: objectives 1

Effect on the stand structure ofDisturbance (mainly fire and windthrow) regime

Dynamics of the stand characteristicsTree species compositionGrowing stock, basal areaAverage tree height and DBH by tree speciesTree population age and size structureGround and epixylic vegetation

ProcessesGrowth increment and mortalityNatural regeneration and canopy turnover ratesCarbon dynamicsDecomposition of coarse woody debris (CWD)

10.6.2010 16

Stand and Patch Scales: objectives 2Stand and Patch Scales: objectives 2

The stand stabilitySearching for ‘steady state’ when the biomass and other characteristics do not changeResistance to windthrow, resilience and elasticity after windthrow in 1983 of different ecosystem componentsResistance to clear felling (in buffer zone), resilience and elasticity after clear felling of different ecosystem components

10.6.2010 17

Stand and Patch Scales Stand and Patch Scales Materials and Methods 1Materials and Methods 1

Standard permanent (23) and temporal (6) sample plots of 0.2-0.3 ha established from 1973 for tree and CWD inventoriesPermanent transects established in 2000, tree, regeneration and CWD inventories20-25 subplots 2*2 m2 for each permanent sample plot for ground vegetation and regeneration inventoriesCWD dated using permanent plot records, wood sampling for decomposition using chronosequenceapproach as well as vegetation inventory to study microsuccessions

Permanent sample plots

10.6.2010 18

Stand and Patch Scales Stand and Patch Scales Materials and Methods 2Materials and Methods 2

Lab-work: bulk density of the samples collected, carbon and nutrient analyses

Tree-ring measurements and fire scar dating

Identification of samples of difficult plant groups: mosses, lichens and hepatics as well as wood-decaying fungi.

10.6.2010 19

10.6.2010 20

2*2 m plots

Permanent sample plot #9 with sub-plot

Photo: E. Lemetti

10.6.2010 21

Different stages of microsuccession on spruce logs

Photo: D. Mirin

10.6.2010 22

CWD decomposition study

Photo: A. Kuznetsov

Main publications describing the RESTORE datasetMain publications describing the RESTORE dataset

Fedorchuk, V.N., Kuznetsova, M.L., Andreeva, A.A. and Moiseev, D. 1998. Forest Reserve of “Vepssky les”. Forestry Research. (Rezervat“Vepsskij Les”. Lesovodstvennyje issledovanija). Saint-Petersburg Forestry Research Institute Publishers, St Petersburg, 208 pp. (in Russian).Shorohova E.V., Soloviev V.A. 2002. Living and dead wood carbon dynamics in pristine boreal Norway spruce forests subjected to windthrow disturbances // The role of boreal forests and forestry in the global carbon budget. Proc. of the IBFRA 2000 Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Ed. by S. Shaw and M. Apps. Pp. 179-194.Shorohova, E.V., Girfanov, M.A., Syvun, A.S. 2002. Coarse woody debris (CWD) in pristine coniferous taiga forests. Proc. 5th Int. Conf. Problems of Forest Mycology and Phytopathology. Ed. by V.G. Storozhenko, Moskow, pp. 280-293.Shorohova, E., M. Girfanov. 2004. Decomposition of coarse woody debris in the pristine middle boreal forest (Mikogennyj ksiloliz krupnykhdrevesnykh ostatkov v korennykh taezhnykh lesakh) // Fungal Communities in Forest Ecosystems (Gribnye soobschestva v lesnykhekosistemakh). Ed. by V.G. Storozhenko and V.I. Krutov. V. 2. Karelian Centre of Russian Academy of Sciences. P. 255-271. (in Russian)Shorohova, E.V. 2005. Carbon dynamics in pristine boreal forests: stand and landscape scales. // Climate Change – Forest Ecosystems and Landscape. Proc. Int. Sci Conf. 19-22 Oct., Zvolen, Slovakia. Ed. by T. Priwitzer. Pp. 72-75.Fedorchuk V.N., Kuznetsova M.L., Schvarts A.A., Shorohov A.A., Shorohova E.V., Tetioukhin S.V. 2006. Study on the structure and natural dynamics of forest ecosystems on the stationary objects of nature park “Vepssky Les” (Izucheniye struktury i dinamiki estestvennykh lesnykhekosistem na statsionarnykh objektakh prirodnogo parka “Vepsskij les”). Proc. Saint-Petersburg State Forestry Res. Inst. Vol. 3 (16), pp. 5-15. (in Russian)Kushnevskaya, A., Mirin, D., Shorohova, E. 2007. Patterns of epixylic vegetation on spruce logs in late-successional boreal forests. For. Ecol. Manage 250: 25-33.Shorohova, E., Kapitsa, E., 2007. Fragmentation and decomposition of spruce bark in boreal spruce forests (Fragmentatsiya i razlozheniyeelovoj kory v taezhnykh el’nikakh). Lesovedenye (Russian Forest Science) 5: 22-26 (in Russian)Shorohova, E., Fedorchuk V.N., Kuznetsova M.L., Shvedova, O. 2008. Wind induced successional changes in pristine boreal Picea abies forest stands: evidence from long-term permanent plot records. Forestry 81(3):335-359.Shorohova, E., Kapitsa, E., Kuznetsov, A.A. 2009. Decomposition of stumps and logs in boreal forests (Mikogennyj ksiloliz valezha i pnej v taezhnykh el’nikakh). Lesovedenye (Russian Forest Science): 4, с. 24-33. (in Russian)Kuznetsov, A.A. Shorohova, E., Kapitsa, E. 2009. Decomposition rate of coarse woody debris of the main middle boreal tree species (Skorost’; mikogennogo ksiloliza krupnykh drevesnykh ostatkov osnovnykh lesoobrazuyuschikh porod srednej tajgi) / Proc. St-Petersburg State Forest Academy 186: 49-57. (in Russian)Shorohov, A., Shorohova, E., Fedorchuk, V. 2009. Forest landscape in focus of forestry-ecological research (Lesnoj massiv, kak objektlesovodstvenno-ekologicheskikh issledovanij) / Proc. St-Peterburg State Forestry research Institute 18: 75-86. (in Russian)Shorohov, A., Shorohova, E., Fedorchuk, V. Kuznetsova, M. 2009. Change in the structure of natural forest landscape: records from permanentselective stand mensuration (Izmemeniye v strukture estestvenno razvivayuschegosya lesnogo massiva po dannym periodicheskoj vyborochnojtaksatsii drevostoev) / Proc. St-Petersburg State Forestry research Institute 20: 47-59. (in Russian)Fedorchuk, V., Shorohova, E., Shorohov, A., Kuznetsova, M. 2009. Stages of natural dynamics of pristine spruce forests in the North-Westernpart of the Russian plain (Etapy estestvennoj vozrastnoj dinamiki korennykh elovykh lesov na Severo-Zapade Russkoj ravniny) // Genetictypology, dynamics and geography of Russia’s forests (Geneticheskaya tipologiya i geografiya lesov Rossii) Proc. All-Russia Science Conf. p. 94-96.

10.6.2010 23

AcknowledgementsOrganization of the reserve and experimental design: Stanislav Dyrenkov†, Viktor Fedorchuk, Sergey Savitsky†

Fieldwork since 1970 and data processing:Stanislav Dyrenkov†, Viktor Fedorchuk, Sergey Savitsky†, Maria Kuznetsova,

Anna Schvarts, Denis Moiseev, Leonid Pegov, Alexandr Ignatyev, Svetlana Savitskaya, Raisa Zotikova, Alexey Shorohov, Boris Ryabinin, AlexandrGladyshev, Oksana Shvedova, Olga Chapkevich, Dmitrij Dokuchaev†, Anton Kuznetsov, Sergey Tetioukhin, Evgeniy Lemetti, Olga Bystryakova, YuliaIgnatyeva, Ekaterina Kapitsa, Svetlana Stepanova, Ekaterina Trubitsyna, Ekaterina Fedorova, Igor Kazartsev, Kirill Minin, Inga Spalvene, EvgenijSidorov, and others.

Practical help:director of the natural park Sergey Knyazev, forester Valentin Butorin,

accomodation in Kurba: Antonina Butorina, driver Mikhail Kyurshin†

FundingMarie-Curie International Incoming Fellowships (236030)Saint-Petersburg Forestry Research InstituteNatural Park “Vepssky les”Government of the Leningrad regionRussian Foundation for Basic Research (05-04-48476, 06-04-63039, 07-04-00200, 09-04-00209, 09-04-10100).

10.6.2010 24