Abstract

An introduction is given to the geography of Russian forests and to the specific conditions of the study sites located along the 60° latitude east of Moscow (Fyedorovskoe) near the Ural Mountains (Syktivkar) and in Central Siberia near the Yennisei river (Zotino). The climatic conditions were similar at all three sites. The main ecological parameter that changes between European Russia and Siberia is the length of the growing season (230 d above 0 °C NE Moscow to 170 d above 0 °C in Central Siberia) and to a lesser extent precipitation (580 mm NE Moscow to 530 mm in Central Siberia). The experimental sites were generally similar to the regional conditions, although the Tver region has less forest and more grassland than the central forest reserve, and the Komi region has slightly less wetland than the study area. The Krasnoyarsk region reaches from the arctic ocean to arid central Asia and contains a significant proportion of non-forest land. The boreal forest of west and east Yennisei differs mainly with respect to wetlands, which cover almost half of the land area on the west bank. All sites are prone to disturbance. Heavy winds and drought or surplus water are the main disturbance factors in European Russia (a 15–20 yr cycle), and fire is the dominating disturbance factor in Siberia (220–375 yr for stand replacing fires). DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.2002.01342.x

Highlights

  • The Eurosiberian Project was planned to focus on the boreal forest belt of Eurasia, which covers the area between about 53 and 67◦N from the Atlantic coast of Norway at 5◦E to the Pacific coast at 170◦E

  • Given the fact that initial information did exist for the East Siberian Larix forest (Utkin, 1965; Schulze et al, 1995; Hollinger et al, 1998; Kelliher et al, 1997; 1998), and that the European region is covered by a number of experimental networks (Schulze, 2000; Valentini, 2002), the present study concentrates on sites ranging from European Russia to the Yenisei river in Central Siberia

  • Average day temperatures are above 0 ◦C for about 200–230 d in the taiga zone of European Russia and decrease to about 170 d in central Siberia

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Summary

Introduction

The Eurosiberian Project was planned to focus on the boreal forest belt of Eurasia, which covers the area between about 53 and 67◦N from the Atlantic coast of Norway at 5◦E to the Pacific coast at 170◦E. Given the fact that initial information did exist for the East Siberian Larix forest (Utkin, 1965; Schulze et al, 1995; Hollinger et al, 1998; Kelliher et al, 1997; 1998), and that the European region is covered by a number of experimental networks (Schulze, 2000; Valentini, 2002), the present study concentrates on sites ranging from European Russia to the Yenisei river in Central Siberia. These sites are located at the Central Forest Reserve (56◦27 N, 32◦57 E) about 300 km northwest of Moscow; near Syktyvkar ( 61◦23 N, 52◦17 E) located about 400 km East of the Ural Mountains; and in the Central Yenisei region near Zotino (60◦44 N, 89◦09 E) a village located about 100 km south of the inlet of the Podkameniaya Tunguska into the Yenisei

Climatology of the Eurosiberian boreal forests
Forest zone
The Central Forest Biospheric State Reserve
The Syktivkar region
The Zotino region
Findings
Conclusion

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