Assessment of the Biomass of Coniferous–Deciduous Forest by the Example of the Chashnikovo Training and Experimental Soil Ecological Center of Moscow State University

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this work is to assess the contribution of the components of plant community—biomass and mortmass of tree stands, undergrowth, living ground cover, and forest litter—to its total organic matter pool. The study object is represented by a coniferous-deciduous forest located in the Solnechnogorsk city district of Moscow oblast and characterized by five permanent 50 × 50-m test plots laid in it. The greatest contribution to the total organic matter mass of the studied plant communities is made by perennial parts and mortmass of the forest stand (to 87% and 14%, respectively). The proportion of phytomass of deciduous trees in stand comprises from 32 to 98%, which is connected with the incomplete forest restoration succession. The contribution of forest litter does not exceed 3%. Low litter reserves (0.18–1.21 kg m–2) and the destructive type of all litters are not typical for spruce forests. The floristic composition and the ecological–coenotic structure of the living ground cover are typical for the subzone of coniferous-deciduous forests; and its contribution to the total productivity of forest biogeocenosis is insignificant. The spatial pattern of litter reserves and of the biomass of the living ground cover within the biogeocenoses is disturbed in comparison with typical spruce forests due to the high proportion of deciduous species in the forest stand. Their participation in the tree layer is typical for the final stage of formation of a secondary coniferous forest during succession and causes a slight increase in the intensity of the biological cycle, which is indicated in our case by a decrease in the reserves and a simpler structure of litters. Since the biomass and mortmass of tree stand contribute most to carbon sequestration by forest biogeocenoses, these components require a detailed assessment during monitoring surveys, the purpose of which is to evaluate carbon reserves of land ecosystems.