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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.

An analysis was made of the current version of the documents that provide information on the dynamics of the density of pest populations and determine the appointment and implementation of sanitation activities in the forests of the Russian Federation, including the Procedure for the implementation of state forest pathological monitoring, the Rules for sanitation safety in forests; The procedure for conducting forest pathological examinations; Rules for the implementation of measures to prevent the spread of harmful organisms; Rules for the elimination of foci of harmful organisms. It has been established that in the zone of taiga forests, the legal framework for forest protection does not provide representative information on the state of pest populations, sanitation measures do not reduce the number of pests. A proposal has been made to change the scale of condition categories, especially categories 4 (shrinking), 5a (fresh dead tree) and 5d (dead tree). It is proposed to use the population of bark beetles and wood borer insects as the main characteristic of the state of trees along with the state of the crown. When the forest pathological unit is located in a small area inside the forest in wet forest types, it is recommended not to carry out sanitary felling, except in cases of the appearance of dangerous types of pathogens. It is proposed to remove preventive measures and other methods of controlling the spread and reproduction of pests and pathogens that are not related to tree felling from the legal framework of forest protection, and invite responsible forest users to apply these measures based on interaction with the authorized body of the subject of the Russian Federation. It is necessary to exclude from the normative documentation the possibility of burning logging residues, except for cases of development of specific diseases, in which even the transportation of logging residues poses a potential danger to the surrounding plantations.

The problems of protection of Siberian pine forests, that have arisen in connection with the recent invasion of the European pest - the small spruce bark beetle Ips amitinus (Eichh.), which formed the outbreak foci on the territory of the Tomsk and Kemerovo regions, are considered. The complexity of indication and early detection of the species, the assessment of the forest stands state, bark beetle populations indexes in foci, and the implementation of measures aimed at curbing the spread of an aggressive alien species were discussed based on the results of our research. The objective reasons for the ineffectiveness of protecting forests from the alien bark beetle at the present stage are shown: the lack of information and scientific and methodological support for it, taking into account the characteristics of the biology and ecology of the new pest; lack of a developed technology for the practical application of protective measures in the conditions of specific management in Siberian pine forests and legislative conflicts. In connection with the specifics of the invasive situation, a number of innovations in the organization and conduct of forest health monitoring and forest pathological surveys in the Siberian pine forests are proposed for consideration. The necessity of clarifying the scale of damaged trees condition categories by the small spruce bark beetle is substantiated, taking into account the peculiarities of the relationship between the pest and its new host-tree species. The possibilities and prospects of conducting remote observations of the alien bark beetle foci and its distribution with using of unmanned aerial vehicles are shown. A critical assessment is given of measures to curb the spread of pests in forests, permitted by regulatory documents, and their possibilities for solving the problem of Siberian pine forests degradation in the outbreak foci of the small spruce bark beetle. The proposals for effective protection technologies against new invasive pest in Siberian pine forests are formulated.

A laboratory method for studying the fungal phytotoxicity with cut-offs from leaves was tested for the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus the causative agent of ash dieback ( Fraxinus L.) disease. We used 12 cultures of the fungus originating from the native and invasive ranges of the pathogen, and leaves of two species of ash Manchurian ( Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr.) and ash green ( F. pennsylvanica Marsh.) that differed in resistance to this phytopathogen. After cultivation of fungi on liquid nutrient media, the cultural filtrates were applied to cut-offs from ash leaves placed in moist chambers. Necrotization of photosynthetic tissues was noted after the action of exometabolites of some cultures. At the same time, large necrosis have developed only on the cut-offs from the leaves of ash green, which corresponds to the known fact that this species is less resistant to H. fraxineus in comparison with of ash Manchurian. The geographical origin and composition of the culture medium did not affect the ability of cultures to induce necrosis. The analysis of the results indicated a probable positive relationship between the necrotizing activity of the culture liquid and the indicators of the crop biomass yield. It can be assumed that the necrosis inducing factors appeared in cultures at the stationary stage of the fungus growth. No concurrence was found between the results of laboratory tests with leaf cut-offs and field experiments on the inoculation of H. fraxineus mycelium into the trunks of young ash trees. The deficiency of knowledge about the H. fraxineus physiology and the mechanisms of interaction of this phytopathogen with the host are discussed. A conclusion was made about the suitability of the laboratory technique with leaf cut-offs for factors of H. fraxineus phytopathogenicity investigation, which act during the colonization of the photosynthetic part of the crown in sensitive ash species.

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).