Violation of the structure of the forest biocenosis under the action of stem pests and methods of controlling their numbers

Abstract

The study of the forest ecosystem as an integral part of the erosion system is associated with a number of issues. The forest is the most powerful and effective tool in the fight against soil erosion, droughts and hot winds, as well as an environmental stabilising factor in general. Human forestry activities in the fight against the drying of coniferous plantations from an outbreak of mass reproduction and spread to large areas of stem pests under the influence of a complex of ecological and climatic factors, is one of the serious factors disrupting the structure of the forest biocenosis. The search for alternative solutions to the localisation of this problem requires a detailed study of the behaviour of the most common bark beetles of coniferous trees in climatic and environmental conditions that developed during 2011-2020. During the period of active temperatures in 2019, namely from the second decade of April to the third decade of October, work on stationary supervision and laboratory field work was carried out to solve the problem of localisation of stem pests of Polissya and Forest-Steppe pine plantations. Methods of laying out hunting trees and pheromone traps were used. In practice, the pest did not inhabit hunting trees and only a few representatives and very small entomophagous traps fell into the traps. Instead, it inhabited healthy stands of trees, where the catchers were located. It is established that from the scientific and practical standpoint, the studied regularity of pine drying centres is clearly confined to highways and timber roads, as well as the area of distribution of relevant species of trunk pests and weakening zones of pine stands in some areas for other reasons. It is proved that to preserve the ecological potential of coniferous plantations and reduce the negative impact of xylophagous insects, it is necessary to design preventive and biological methods of control of the main trunk pests of coniferous trees