Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2014 number 3

To describe the successional processes in forest coenoses and spatial distribution of tree species the approach using models of phase transitions was proposed. We introduced a variable equation and phase transition models that describe processes in forest coenoses. The analysis showed that the model considering processes in the forest as a second order phase transitions was in good agreement with the field data. The model parameters can be calculated from the data of field observations and used for the prognosis calculations of successional processes in forest and the distribution of important tree species in high-altitude forest. The proposed approach to the modeling of dynamic processes in the forest as phase transitions is universal that greatly simplifies the task of constructing models of forest dynamics.

Methods of identification of High Value Conservation Forests (HVCF) were proposed in correspondence with the Russian national standard accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council (FCS). The landscape and typological approach was assumed as the basis for HVCF identification. In fact, conception of HVCF is a modified interpretation of protective forest organization. The methods we described can be applied in other Siberian regions.

A geobotanical map of territory of the upper part of the Bureya river basin was produced. The zonality, general diversity and spatial ratio of vegetation classes, location on relief (landscape) and dynamic series of vegetation are represented on the map of actual vegetation cover. Mapping as a method of investigation, as a rule, leads to a higher level of understanding of basic peculiarities of an object. A map as a result of an investigation reflects clearly the main features of basic peculiarities of the object in accordance to a map scale, or shows clearly the shortcomings of the study.

The results of a comprehensive study of soil and vegetation on the hills, which are located in four sub-areas of forest-steppe and steppe, were presented. After studying the sloping vertical micro-zonality on the example of mounds, the general and specific features of the distribution of soil properties (40 indicators), in terms of geographical position and in respect of catenary and expository aspects, were shown. Functional changes of interdependence in the system of soil-vegetation as a result of thousands of years of ecosystems’ evolution were identified.

Abundance of plants of different mycorrhizal status in endoecogenetical succession of overgrowing of overburden rocks in Fedorovsky open-pit mine (Karaganda, Kazakhstan) was characterized. During the succession abundance of species obligately forming an arbuscular mycorrhiza increased. The ratio of plants with different mycorrhizal status stabilizes between the 10th and 20th years of overgrowth, varying only slightly thereafter.

The paper analyses total of 58 samples representing 32 species of the 14 genera of shrub plant of the carbon isotope composition in Xinjiang representatives of Chenopodiaceae and a detailed discussion on the various factors that can influence them. The value of 38 samples fall between -14.88 ‰ and -11.55 ‰ with a mean of -13.34 ‰, and values of 20 samples between -27.93 ‰ and -22.877 ‰ with a mean of -25.38‰. So we obtained a total of 21 of C₄ species (59.4 %) and 11 of C₃ species (40.6 %) from 32 species studied Chenopodiaceae of shrubs plant. Then the relationship of plant-carbon-isotope and environmental factors has been analyzed. The results showed that the importance environmental factors for the d¹³C-value of the Shrubs was annual precipitation (0.78) > temperature (0.66) > elevation (0.55). The three principal components has important factors to influence on C₃/C₄ shrub plant distribution. environmental conditions play significant roles in the distribution and ecophysiological features of different photosynthetic types and even change the photosynthetic pathways. On the other hand, such as geographic location, Sunshine duration, evaporation capacity are more or less correlation with d¹³C values however, they would be interfered by annual precipitation. Desert plants to adapt to drought conditions by increasing water use efficiency (WUE) strategy. In short, plant physiology function is sensitive and timely to adapt environmental change.

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations and N: P ratios between leafs and roots of Nitraria tangutorum along aridity gradients were studied. N. tangutorum was relatively limited by N in April (mean leaf N: P ratio = 11.13) and by P in August (mean leaf N: P ratio = 38.78). N and P in both leaves and roots were highly correlated across sampling sites. In April both leaf and root N and P concentrations increased along aridity gradients. Mean leaf N: P ratios changed slightly, but mean root N: P ratios increased with increasing aridity gradients. We suggest that leaf N: P ratios can indicate nutrient status at different plant growth stages, and root N: P ratios can signify if the amount of soil nutrients is insufficient.

The results of the study of morphological and biochemical attributes of Spiraea betulifolia and S. beauverdianа and their eco-geographical variability were given. Taxa diagnostic features were identified: the characteristics and degree of pedicle and leaflet pubescence, leaflet rostrum position, the composition of phenolic compounds. On this basis, the independence of these two species was proposed.

This review article covers the history of invasion of the Lime leaf miner in Europe and European Russia. It observes forage plants, entomophages of the miner and specifics of the development cycle. Biocenotic mechanisms and ecological consequences of invasion are also analyzed in the article. Practical recommendations on work with the miner outbreaks are elaborated.

The mortality rate of Anopheles messeae Fall. and Culex piрiens piрiens L. mosquito larvae infected with entomopathogenic fungi Metarhizium brunneum and M. robertsii was studied in laboratory conditions. It was shown that C. piрiens larvae was more susceptible to water suspension of fungal conidia, while A. messeae larvae was more susceptible to treatment with dry conidia. Mortality of mosquito larvae infected with the most virulent strain and dose of 2 × 10⁶ conidia / cm² was 87.5-92.5 %. The prospects of the use of fungi in biocontrol of mosquito are discussed herein.

Dynamics of living ground vegetation an initial stage of fire succession after surface fires of different intensity in pine forests of Lower Angara region was observed. The fires of any intensity decreased percent cover and biomass of ground layer. The greatest changes were observed after fires of moderate and higt intensity and cause death of moss and lichen layer.

The paper shows under what loads of pollutants occurs their accumulation in soils with the course of time. A map of soil contamination with fluorine, reflecting the patterns of its secondary differentiation in steppe geosystems, is presented. The features of fluorine distribution in soils depending on the environmental conditions, as well as the factors that ensure self-cleaning of contaminated soils are revealed. The necessity to reduce dust and gas emissions during the production of aluminum is emphasized.

The influence of aluminium smelters’ atmospheric emissions on the fluorine accumulation by soil and plants and also on the changing of chemical composition of the leaves of woody plants was studied. It was determined that ratio of total fluorine to extractable fluorine was changing greatly depending on the specie of the plant. High ash content in leaves (due to K, Р, Са, etc.) and increasing of ratio of total fluorine to its water-soluble part is characteristic of gas-resistant plants. Plants’ resistance to fluorine depends on the ability of an organism to transform a toxicant into insoluble forms that do not take part in physiological processes. In other words, it depends on the presence of the elements with high precipitating capability in plant tissues. It was stated that gas-resistant species possess the ability to limit the fluorine penetrating into a plant through the roots, and also to constrain its migration within the plant (especially in organs that determine the further development of the plant).

The paper concerns the changed structure of disturbed plant communities of raised bogs surrounding drilling waste pits. The study area was located within the territory of one of the biggest oilfields in the Middle Ob area (a subzone of middle taiga). A list of found species of vascular plants and the information about the dominant species of mosses were provided.

Lead content in the organogenic layer of black soils and chestnut soils is high (it exceeds maximum permissible concentration) due to its significant contents in soil-forming rocks, and it is low in frozen soils of meadow-chernozem and gray forests. However, despite this difference, lead content in grassland vegetation growing on all four types of soils is equally low, as humus substances bind up to 40 % of the total lead content in soils. Of all humic substances, fulvic acids bind lead most actively.

Pollution of brown forest soils of Western Caucasus by heavy metals, oil and oil products in most cases causes deterioration of their biological properties. Based on toxicity degree heavy metals form the following sequence: Cr > Ni > Cu > Pb. Oil and oil products settle down as follows: oil > fuel oil > gasoline > diesel fuel. Quantitative reference points for development of regional standards of the maximum permissible contents in brown forest soils of chrome, nickel, copper, plumb, oil, fuel oil, gasoline and diesel fuel were proposed.