Typological structure and age composition of beach stands in the mountainous Crimea

Abstract

The features of the typological structure, age composition and territorial distribution of beech stands in the Mountainous Crimea were studied. It is shown that nowadays beech forests grow in the range of altitudes from 400-500 to 1300-1400 m above sea level on an area of 34.9 thousand hectares, which is 13.4% of the forested territory of the peninsula. The age structure of beech stands is characterized by the cyclical process of renewal of indigenous stands, which is determined by the implementation of favorable natural factors - the level of seed yield and weather conditions during the formation of seed renewal generation, the frequency of which is 40-50 years. Based on the analysis of the ecological spectrum of the species composition of the grass layer, it is established that the forest growing conditions in the beech stands in the central part of the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains should be characterized as fresh sudubravas and beech forests. The density of beech young growth in ecotopes in this area varies from 0.5 to 4 thousand pieces per 1 ha. In areas where the light regime improves, the young trees grow in the form of small bunches, often forming groups of young plants around the trunks of adult trees. Using satellite images of the Landsat 8 space sensing system, it was revealed that at present, in the central part of the beech forests of the Mountainous Crimea, significant areas are completely devoid of forest vegetation, or are covered with sparse woodlands, in the phytocenotic structure of which herbaceous plants predominate.