Current state and productivity of Scots pine modal stands of the Forest Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

The development of regulatory and reference support for the inventory assessment of the state of modal stands is an urgent issue, since it allows obtaining reliable and up-to-date information on the current state of existing forests. The purpose of the study was a statistical substantiation of the division of pine stands into groups by region of growth and stand composition, and their detailed inventory characteristics with an analysis of the distribution in the Forest-Steppe and their productivity. To conduct the study, a stand-wise database of the Production Association “Ukrderzhlisproekt” for Forest-Steppe zone of Ukraine was used. Using a number of non-parametric criteria for evaluating samples (Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance, the median criterion, Jonckheere-Terpstra test), the study established a difference in the stands parameters of the samples under study and divided the stands of the Forest-Steppe zone into four groups. The main task was to describe the current state of modal pine stands of the Forest-Steppe zone of Ukraine for selected groups, with a detailed distribution of areas and stocks according to the main stand parameters According to the results of the database analysis, it was found that about 92% of the total area of pine stands of the Forest-Steppe zone are artificial forests. Depending on the region of growth, the stands were divided into the left- and right-bank parts of the Forest-Steppe, in composition – into pure and mixed stands. Within the groups under study, the distribution of areas and stocks of pine stands was analysed according to site index classes, types of forest-growing conditions, forest types, relative stand density, and age groups. Site index classes in all groups are dominated by high site index stands of I and Ia site index classes. The proportion of high-grade mixed stands is greater compared to pure stands. In terms of the forest-growing conditions, stands in condition B2 dominate in all groups under study. From the left bank to the right bank, there is an increase in soil fertility from condition B to condition C, and this dependence is also observed from pure to mixed stands. Productivity in terms of the average growing stock of mixed stands of the rightbank and left-bank parts of the Forest-Steppe is very close and considerably less than the stocks of pure stands. The presented research results can be used by scientists as a description of the modal inventory characteristics of the Forest-Steppe region and for the grouping of experimental data when compiling forestry and forest inventory standards