Оценка биологической продуктивности лесной среды в условиях урбанизации (на примере Воронежской нагорной дубравы)

Abstract

Fast-paced rates of urbanization reduce the area of forestlands. As a result, the volumes of photosynthesis, metabolic processes, oxygen production, carbon deposition and other processes are decreasing. All of this gives pause for thought about the existence of forests on the planet. The Voronezh upland oak forest with a total area of more than 7 ths ha is the central organizing element of the entire urban ecosystem of Voronezh. The forest stand is represented by coniferous crops along the left bank of the terraces above the flood-plain, as well as broad-leaved forest plantations extended over the riverside slopes of the watershed. The oak forest is a state nature reserve of regional significance and has the status of a specially protected natural area. One of the main functions of the nature reserve is lowering the level of anthropogenic impact on unique landscape systems and maintaining the ecological balance in the region. Through the example of the oak forest the basic forest types are characterized and their total biomass is calculated, the above-ground organic biomass is compared with the mass of soil humus and total biomass with the clay biomass. It was found that the total biomass reserves correlate with the mass of physical clay in the root layer. So, pine crops growing in habitats containing up to 900 t/ha of physical clay produce 121.57 t/ha of biomass; its double increase boosts the productivity of the forest to 288.92 t/ha. Herewith, in the first case, the yield class of pine crops ranges from the second to the third; in the second case it reaches the first class. The oak forest is losing its forest-growing potential, its sanitary and hygienic properties are deteriorating. As well as, there is a general decline in the economic value of the specially protected natural area in the context of ecosystem services. For citation: Odnoralov G.А., Tikhonova е.N., Golyadkina I.V., Malinina т.А. Assessment of Urban Forest Biological Productivity (Case Study of the Voronezh Upland Oak Forest). Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2020, no. 2, pp. 60–72. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2020-2-60-72