The Features of Birch Forest Vegetative Reproduction in Western Siberia

About the author:

Viktor A. Shtol, Researcher, Siberian Forest Experimental Station, a Branch of the All-Russian Research Institute of Silviculture and Mechanization of Forestry; tumlos@mail.ru

Abstract:

The article analyses the features of vegetative reproduction in the birch forest-steppe of Western Siberia. The authors have identified presence of undergrowth in birch forests bound for felling, their research shows that birch forests in Western Siberian forest-steppe do not have sufficient undergrowth under forest canopy for the formation of high-closed commercial birch forests. As a result, their natural regeneration occurs mostly by vegetative method. The correlation between the birch rejuvenation capacity and the trees’ diameter has been studied on 15 sample plots, which proves that birch rejuvenation capacity reduces with the increase in diameter and reaching the age of 60-80 years old. In addition, the effects of felling and fires on the undergrowth condition have been investigated, which analysis reveals that most of the undergrowth during logging and fires was destroyed and damaged, while the undergrowth, which was cut after felling, gave more abundant coppice than the damaged one. The sprouting ability of birch trees in the spring and summer periods has been studied, which concludes that birch regeneration by root suckers is of no practical value due to their rare formation.

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