RESTORATION OF DRYING MOUNTAIN SIBERIAN STONE PINE FORESTS IN SOUTHERN SIBERIA

Siberian stone pine ( Pinus sibirica Du Tour) has three ecological forms, determined by the conditions of renewal and formation of forest stands: renewal of fresh burnt areas, renewal under the canopy of deciduous trees and the formation of the Siberian stone pine undergrowth under the canopy of light coniferous species, but not reaching the top canopy. The first two forms of renewal are observed in ecotopes corresponding to the growing conditions of the Siberian stone pine, but the scenarios for the formation of the forests are different. The study was carried out in two types of forest conditions: the Western Sayan district of mountain-taiga and subgoltsy-taiga Siberian stone pine forests Abaza forestry district) and the South Khakass district of mountain-taiga dark coniferous forests (Maturskoe and Kop’evskoe forestry district). In Abaza forestry, the average periodicity of fruiting of the Siberian stone pine stands was 5 years, and in the Kuznetsk Alatau - 3 years. Fruiting of the Siberian stone pine is a predictable phenomenon, but the spread and germination of the Siberian stone pine seeds are complex processes associated with zoochoric distribution and the powerful influence of the trophic factor of nut consumers. According to the radial growth of trees, determined from stumps in cutting areas (forest health felling) of the Abaza forestry, Siberian stone pine forests are of pyrogenic origin, have good growth throughout life and dry out without loss of growth. In the modern history of forestry, outbreak activity of root pathogens occurs for the first time. The forecast for the regeneration of drying Siberian stone pine forests in the mid-mountain part of the Western Sayan is positive. In Kuznetsk Alatau, the Siberian stone pine regrowth is insufficient and reforestation in large grass forest types is possible only with a change in species. The cutting of the tree stand, as well as its drying out with the subsequent growth of the grass stand, contributes to an increase in the population density of consumers of the Siberian stone pine nuts and, accordingly, excludes the regeneration of the trees. Preservation of undergrowth in clearings 30 years ago has yielded positive results in the formation of fruit-bearing Siberian stone pine forests. The organization of nut fishing zones with a ban on Siberian stone pine logging and its subsequent drying out led to economic losses of valuable wood and a by-product resource during the lifetime use of the Siberian stone pine stands.

mountain Siberian stone pine forests, drying out, restoration, seed bearing, undergrowth, consumers of the Siberian stone pine seeds, Southern Siberia