STRUCTURE OF THE ANNUAL RING POOL IN COMMUNITIES OF SWAMP AND DRY PINE FORESTS BETWEEN OB’ AND TOM’ RIVERS. COMMUNICATION I. METHODOLOGICAL SUBSTANTIATION AND FOREST GROWING CONDITIONS

The expediency of developing new methods for assessing the response of woody plants to environmental factors with an emphasis on the variability of the structure of the annual ring pool of wood is substantiated. Diagnostics and interpretation of the distributed pool of rings are considered in the context of forest society in connection with different intervals of their variability in signs of annual increments. The need for special attention to hydromorphic habitats, which differ in comparison with drylands by a more complex set of environmental factors determining the growth and development of trees in swamps of various types of water and mineral nutrition, is updated. Traditional domestic approaches to assessing the biological and technical maturity of wood, historically consonant with this study, are discussed, allowing the identification of rare and most valuable assortments in swamp forests. In the context of the implementation of the set tasks, the expediency of studying the pine forests of the forest-swamp complexes of the northern part of the Ob and Tom interfluve, which differ significantly in origin and localization in the relief, age structure, conditions of water-mineral nutrition, typological specificity and productivity of ground vegetation, is substantiated. Bioecological features of this region are characterized, where homogeneous in composition monospecific stands of excessively wet and dry pine forests represented by Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) were found and studied by targeted search. The main emphasis is placed on the ecological series of habitats and the typological characteristics of pine forests. The information presented in this report precedes the essential presentation of the research results in the second part of this article: «Communication II. Experimental and analytical aspects», reflecting their representativeness and extrapolation potential.

bogs, dry lands, Scotch pine, ecotopes, radial growth