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The capsule review of the scientific editor for the thematic issue of the Siberian Journal of Forest Science, 2023, is presented, dedicated to forest protection problems in Russia.

The problem of infection and death of valuable Siberian stone pine and fir stands of the Baikal specially protected natural territory as a result of the spread of bacterial dropsy of conifers over thousands of hectares is discussed. The disease was found in Zhigalovskiy, Kachugskiy, Nizhneudinskiy, Slyudyanskiy, Ust-Udinskiy and Shelekhovskiy forestry districts of Irkutsk Oblast, as well as in Gusinoozerskiy, Babushkinskiy, Ulan-Udenskiy and Pribaikal’skiy forestry districts of the Republic of Buryatia. Siberian stone pine and fir trees weakened by bacterial dropsy are damaged by secondary stem pests, such as the six-toothed bark beetle (stenographer) Ips sexdentatus Boern., the striped coniferous lumberjack Trypodendron lineatum Oliv., the black fir barbel Monochamus urussovi Fischer, which in turn weaken the damaged stands, leading them to death, creating migratory foci, and are carriers of the disease. In order to carry out the necessary health-improving forest protection measures, eliminate and prevent the spread of infection, the question is raised about the possibility of using selective forest health felling of dry stands and stands infected with bacterial dropsy in the Baikal specially protected natural territory.

Forest protection, being a practically oriented discipline of forestry, has a rich and interesting history. The first attempts to describe forest pests and measures to control them were made in the work of F .G. Fokel «Collection of Forest Science», published in 1752. «Manual for Officers of the Corps of Foresters «Forest protection»» published in 1843 by V. S. Semenov can be considered the starting point of forest protection. The tenth chapter of the work became the first instruction in Russia on the identification of harmful organisms. In 1843-1845, the Department of Ship Forests issued a «Forest Dictionary» prepared under the guidance of V. E. Wrangel. The dictionary contains a description of 76 pest species and more than 20 species of entomophages, and also describes the causes of diseases for the first time. In 1869, the «Reference book on foresters. Part 1» by A. F. Rudzkiy was published, it includes a significant section on forest protection from pests. The first specialized manual was published in 1872 - «Forest Protection» by N. S. Shafranov. This book discussed in details the causes of the insect pests outbreaks, as well as technologies to reduce their impact. Also, for the first time, attention was paid to reducing the marketable value of wood, issues of its subsequent sale, as well as the mechanisms of trees weakening and dieback. In 1875, the second edition of «Forest Protection» was published, in which a separate part was devoted to fungi that cause diseases and rot of trees. The book of N. S. Shafranov was based on the studies of G. A. de Bari, G. M. Wilkomma, and R. Hartig. In 1880 P. V. Baranetskiy published a handbook for forest owners, foresters and students of the forest protection courses. This book has set a bases for contemporary system of forest pathology.

The features of the growth of spruce ( Picea A. Dietr.) trees of various state under the canopy of southern taiga oxalis birch forests ( Betuletum oxalidosum ) are considered. The studies were carried out at the North Forest Experimental Station of the Institute of Forest Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, where a system of permanent trial plots (PTP) was established to study the succession processes in birch forests. At one of the PTP, all spruce trees were cut down as models. Preliminary assessment of their condition (healthy, weakened) was carried out. The shape and foliation of the crown, its length along the height of the tree were taken as evaluation criteria. Growth analysis was performed for trees over 60 years old (40 healthy, 33 weakened). Tree growth was characterized by the dynamics of the following indicators: height, stem cross-sectional area at a height of 0.1 and 1.3 m, stem volume, form factor, shape factor. In the course of a retrospective analysis of the growth of trees, it was found that weakened trees, in terms of the value of the biometric characteristics of the stem, are significantly inferior to healthy ones already in the first 10 years of life. At the age of 60, the height and stem volume of healthy trees are 1.5 and 3.1, respectively, higher than the values of these indicators in weakened specimens. Regardless of the condition of the trees, the maximum average periodic growth in height is observed at 40 years, and the equality of the average and average periodic growths in weakened trees is observed 5 years earlier (55 years) than in healthy ones. The maximum average periodic growth in cross-sectional area and stem volume in weakened trees occurs 5-10 years earlier than in healthy ones. Weakened trees are characterized by more full-boled and less tapering stems. At the age of 60 years, the productivity of healthy trees under the canopy of birch forests corresponds to IV, and weakened ones - to V growth class. The prospects of spruce trees under the canopy of birch forests are best assessed when the spruce reaches the age of 40 years.

Forest area of the Far East reaches almost 50 % of the forest area of the Russian Federation. The share of the operational forest fund accounts for about 50 %, the rest are protective, protected, low-density, near-tundra and reserve forests. Most of the operational forests have been developed. The permissible volume of wood withdrawal is 92.0 million m³. Moreover, it is planned to harvest only 14 % by selective logging, the rest of the wood is planned to harvest by clear cuts. Care felling and forest health improving felling in the forests of the Far East are carried out in insignificant volumes. Timber harvesting during the creation of infrastructure facilities is organized mainly in subjects with a developed mining industry. The high diversity of forests and the differences in their growing conditions determined the need to allocate 12 special forest areas here, in 10 of which timber harvesting is carried out. Both continuous and selective logging methods are used. The main volume of logging take place on the Far Eastern taiga region and amounts 8.9 million m³, mainly by continuous logging. Selective logging of up to 3.5 million m³ of wood prevails in the Amur-Primorsky coniferous-deciduous area. In the Kamchatka taiga, Trans-Baikal forest-steppe and Altai-Sayan mountain-taiga forest areas, timber harvesting is carried out in insignificant volumes, only for the own needs of the population. Currently, due to the significant depletion of operational forests, the dynamics of timber harvesting in the Far Eastern Federal District tends to decrease.

Birch ( Betula L.) is a genus of approx. 60 species, subspecies or varieties with a wide distribution in the northern hemisphere. Understanding of systematics and evolution of this taxonomic group is of high practical importance, since most of the genus birch species are actively used in various industrial sectors and reforestation projects and are important forest tree species. The genus birch is considered to be one of the most complex among angiosperms. Taxonomy of birches has been revised several times, but systematic position of many representatives of the genus birch is being reconsidered today. Despite multiple comprehensive studies involving both morphological and molecular approaches a lot of unsolved issues remain in systematics and phylogeny of the genus birch. Main reasons for this include high variability of morphological characters, polyploidy, and intensive and widespread hybridization, which hampers identification of species. The purpose of the study is taxonomic analysis of the genus birch. Article discusses the features of birch introgressive hybridization, the origin of some species, summarizes the results of several molecular phylogenies based on various chloroplast and nuclear markers, and also lists birch representatives, whose taxonomic position is not confirmed by molecular genetic studies and requires additional study of natural populations using molecular markers. Various methods are used to determine the relationship between birch species: classical morphology analysis, chromosome number analysis and molecular genetic methods. One group of methods is not enough to clearly determine systematic position of some representatives of the genus birch. Therefore, the approach to the taxonomy and phylogeny of birches should be complex, using various modern methods complementing each other.

Comparative study was carried out by morphological, anatomical features of needles of four variations of the common juniper ( Juniperus communis L.). The plants belong to three ecological groups in relation to moisture - mesopsychrophytes, xeromesophytes and mesoxerophytes. Juniper variations choose different strategies for experiencing a lack of moisture. Mesopsychrophytes (a drought tolerance coefficient of less than 2) include variations of J. communis var . saxatilis and J. communis var. depressa and distinguished by small, blunt and thin needles, but large resin channels, the life form is a creeping shrub. Mesoxerophytes (drought resistance coefficient greater than 2.1) include, first of all, J. communis var. oblonga plants, have long, thick, sharp needles with two stomatal stripes, a large number of lining cells, large conductive bundles, developed conductive needle tissue, but small resin passages. These are usually tall shrubs or trees. Juniper variations of J. communis var. communis can be attributed to the group of xeromesophytes and by many features it occupies an intermediate position between J. communis var. saxatilis and J. communis var. oblonga . These plants, on the one hand, represent columnar shrubs and trees and have long sharp needles, small resin passages and, on the other, there are thin needles with as a rule, one stomatal strip and a small number of lining cells.

The issues of studying biological diversity, including at the intraspecific level, are among the most important in biology. The form diversity of woody plants is far from fully revealed. Most often, new forms are identified by crown habit, size and shape of leaf blades and their pubescence, size and color of flowers. Much less attention is paid to the color of the leaves. In the course of fieldwork in 2021, on the Kurtushibinsky Ridge, which is part of the Western Sayan system, in the protected zone of the Sayano-Shushensky State Natural Biosphere Reserve near the village of Bazaga, the authors found a small population of spiraea flexuous ( Spiraea flexuosa Fisch ex Cambess.) with bright, carmine-red leaves. Previously, no forms were noted in spiraea flexuous. However, for the closely related species S. сhamaedryfolia , which some authors previously considered a synonym for spiraea flexuous, 3 forms were described: f. crataegifolia Zhl., f. transiens Zhl. and f. stenophylla Zhl. They differed only in the shape and size of the leaf blades. Forms with leaves other than typical green have not been described before. The found form, being introduced into the arboretum of the Central Siberian Botanical Garden of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, retained its characteristics. In accordance with the Code of Botanical Nomenclature, she was given the name - Spiraea flexuosa Fisch ex Cambess., f. atropurpurea Karakulov et Shaulo. The red-leaved form of spiraea flexuousis highly decorative and can be successfully used in landscaping settlements in Siberia.

The analysis of the species richness and landscape positioning of terrestrial vertebrate animal communities in the territory of the potential impact of the reservoir of the planned Nizhneboguchanskaya Hydro Electric Power station (HEP) was carried out. The studies were conducted in the main animal habitats according to standard methods, from 2021 to 2022. The vertebrate fauna in the flooding zone and the potential impact of the projected reservoir of the Nizhneboguchanskaya HEP includes 250 species, including 56 species of mammals, 187 species of birds, 3 species of reptiles and 4 species of amphibians. There are eight main types of biotopes was identified: dark coniferous, light coniferous, mixed and small-leaved forests, wetland complexes, meadows and rocky outcrops. A comparative analysis of faunal richness was performed for each biotope type. The study showed that the highest species diversity is observed in forest habitat: from 126 to 155 species. Of these, the highest faunal diversity is inherent in communities of mixed forests, which is post-fire and after cutting long-derivatives of coniferous forests. Also, in different forest biogeocenoses, there is a high similarity in the species composition of terrestrial vertebrates. The most specific fauna compositions have rocky outcrops, wetlands and meadows, when compared with each other and, especially, with forest biocenoses. As a rule, these habitats are critical for the survival of a number of species, some of which are protected. The preservation of these habitats during the construction and operation of the Nizhneboguchanskaya HEP reservoir will require special attention to maintain the natural level of species diversity of terrestrial vertebrates.

The review is written for the book of Sergei Mikhailovich Bebiya «Forests of Abkhazia». Monograph. Sukhum: Academy, 2022. 589 p. (in Russian with English title, summary and contents).