Abstract Extensive wildfires and logging have affected the Russian boreal forests in recent decades. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests are widespread in Russia and are one of the most disturbed tree species in Siberia. However, the effects of disturbance on soil CO2 efflux in the vast Siberian forests are still poorly understood. We used the LI…
Category: Forest
Mapping Yamal reindeer dietary preferences
In full (EN) Abstract:Large herbivores regulate ecosystem structure and functioning across Earth’s biomes, but vegetation community responses to herbivory depend on complex interactions involving the timing and intensity of herbivory pressure and other, often abiotic, controls on vegetation. Consequently, reindeer-driven vegetation transitions in the Arctic occur heterogeneously between and even within landscapes. Here, we employed…
Forest communities of the Green Book for Bryansk
In full (RU)AbstractTo identify and describe the forest communities of the Green Book of the Bryansk region, the habitats of 10 natural monuments have been surveyed. Forest communities are represented by formations of oak forests and ash forests. Thanks to biomonitoring work followed by analysis of syntaxonomic diversity, observation bases have been created for 6…
Evaluating carbon emissions and removals from Russia’s trade in harvested wood products
Abstract Harvested wood products (HWP) are carbon reservoirs that remain underutilized in decarbonization policies due to the superficiality of carbon flux estimates in international trade in forest products. This paper focuses on the emissions and removals associated with Russia’s foreign trade in HWP. For the first time, we provide estimates of these carbon fluxes for…
Heartwood and carbon in NW Russian pine trees
Heartwood (HW) has a major proportion of a tree trunk, compared with its outer sapwood (SW). Researchers investigated the carbon accumulation to understand the depths of carbon sequestration in pine species in north-western Russia. They mentioned that 64% of the forests of Russian Karelia are Scots Pine which they compared across lingonberry (30% Karelia, 42%…
Forest carbon capture in the Russian carbon market
As part of Russia’s implementation of the Paris agreement, original plans and strategies suggested targets for net absorption in managed forests between 620 – 2500 mln tonnes of CO2e by 2030 (Romanovskaya, 2023). She suggests that 1.2bln tonnes CO2e by 2050 is still possible but needs restructuring of forest management systems. Also identification and validation…
Pleistocene Park creators identify 3000 yr old Siberian weather using mummified wood
Nikita and Sergey Zimov of Pleistocene Park in Sakha Republic of Russia, co-authored a study reconstructing Holocene weather conditions. This will help predict the effects of climate change in today’s Russian Arctic. Even Siberian permafrost regions have seasonal variation, especially summer and winter cycles. Mean average annual temperatures and general mean average conditions were previously…
What happens to the forest floor after Siberian wildfires?
The main tree species in the Siberian taiga are larch, Scots pine, fir, spruce, Siberian pine and birch. Lightning is more a frequent cause of wildfires in northern Siberia with anthropogenic activity causing wildfires further south, however central and eastern Siberia have been more affected overall by wildfires. They decrease soil quality (organic matter, structure,…
Carbon update from the Ladoga polygon
The Ladoga polygon is part of a network of carbon monitoring sites, with Ladoga providing data for this north-west region of Russia. It stores large volumes of carbon in soils, approx 208 tC/ha which is the largest volume outside of permafrost affected soil. The region has not had any significant agricultural activity for over 40…
Siberian honeybees holding their own
Some tourists don’t take the Transbaikal Siberian train. They fly in and like it so much they want to stay and mingle with the locals. But what do resident bees really think? Zoology researchers from Tomsk State University decided to find out. Bee threats are well researched – pests, pathogens, fertilisers, habitat destruction and Russian…