Preliminary determination of wood stocks for evaluation of carbon storage in forest systems of landslide slopes

Abstract

The main purpose of the study is to determine the dynamics of wood volumes in tree populations by forest communities of landslide elements for further assessment of carbon sequestration and to identify the possibility of population-based methods for indicating landslide activity. The studies were carried out in 2008-2019 at specially protected natural reservation “Massiv-Dachny” on the right bank slopes of the Volga River (Tatarstan, Russia). As a result of the research, it was revealed that a distinctive feature of slope forests under conditions of landslide-scree processes is a decrease in the proportion, forest stand and crown density of native forest-forming species – Q. robur, P. sylvestris, and an increase in the proportion of A. platonoides, B. pendula, P. tremula with lower depositing capacity. Under conditions of temporary stability of landslide elements, the formation of long-term derivative T. cordata forests occurs. Clear cuttings of old-growth primary oak forests with pine carried out in 2018-2019 rise the risks of new landslide displacements and led to imbalance in the composition and structure of slope phytocenoses. For the first time for the study area, a database of morphometric and population parameters of trees in phytocenoses of landslide slopes was formed.