RESTORATION OF PLANT COVER IN RAISED BOGS AND PALSAS IN NORTHERN WESTERN SIBERIA DURING PYROGENIC SUCCESSION
- Authors: Koronatova N.G.1, Stepanova V.A.1
-
Affiliations:
- Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture and Peat – Branch of the Siberian Federal Scientific Center for Agrobiotechnology of the RAS
- Issue: Vol 110, No 5 (2025)
- Pages: 427-446
- Section: COMMUNICATIONS
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/0006-8136/article/view/304368
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0006813625050018
- EDN: https://elibrary.ru/gxyfbg
- ID: 304368
Cite item
Abstract
Western Siberia is a fire-hazardous territory of Russia due to a wide distribution of mires including drained ones. Investigation of processes of the vegetation cover restoration after fires is the target of current interest. This paper provides an assessment of qualitative and quantitative parameters of post-fire restoration of the plant cover in the 6th–9th year of succession in ombrotrophic bogs of taiga and forest-tundra in Western Siberia: the species composition, coverage and aboveground biomass of various plant components.The study was carried out in three mire massifs. Two mires (Bakchar and Ust-Bakchar) are oligotrophic Sphagnum-dominated bogs located in the southern taiga subzone within the Tomsk Region. The third mire (Pangody) is a lichen-dominated palsa complex with Sphagnum hollows located in the forest-tundra in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region. The bogs in the southern taiga were drained in the 1980s, and as a result, vegetation and soil properties have transformed in Ust-Bakchar mire but not in Bakchar mire. Five pyrogenic sites in Bakchar mire and two sites in each of the the other two bogs were selected for the study. An undisturbed control site was chosen in each bog as well. The species composition, coverage and the stock of aboveground biomass were studied. The biomass was evaluated by mowing in certain plots.We found out that after 6–9 years of succession, the species diversity of vascular plants has increased and that of mosses and lichens has decreased in pyrogenic sites in comparison with undisturbed ones. The exceptions were the hollows in forest-tundra where the diversity of Sphagnum mosses has increased. Vegetation was recovered due to typical bog species. When the peat deposit burned almost down to the mineral bed, the highest diversity of vascular plants and the appearance of the species not typical of the palsa were observed. Restoration of the moss carpet occurred due to the colonization of peat by species of the genera Polytrichum and Sphagnum in subequal shares. The hollows in the forest-tundra were the exception. There, Sphagnum mosses prevailed and Warnstorfia fluitans also settled. Within one bog, the restoration of the plant cover occurred unevenly due to the pyrogenic transformation of the microrelief and the appearance of habitats with different soil moisture conditions. The coverage and phytomass of the herb-subshrub layer were restored most quickly. Moss colonization was slower, and lichen colonization was minimal. Therefore, on the palsa in the forest-tundra, the total stock of living phytomass was five times lower than in the control undisturbed sites. The total plant stock in other bogs was close to that on the control undisturbed sites or lower no more than twice.
About the authors
N. G. Koronatova
Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture and Peat – Branch of the Siberian Federal Scientific Center for Agrobiotechnology of the RAS
Author for correspondence.
Email: koronatova@issa-siberia.ru
Gagarina Str., 3, Tomsk, 634050, Russia
V. A. Stepanova
Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture and Peat – Branch of the Siberian Federal Scientific Center for Agrobiotechnology of the RAS
Email: verastep1985@rambler.ru
Gagarina Str., 3, Tomsk, 634050, Russia
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