Forest Zone Of European Russia Research Articles

Floristic research at the Forest Research Institute of the Karelian Research Centre RAS: traditions of studying the species diversity of plants and fungi

Employees of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) KarRC RAS have contributed greatly to the study of the biodiversity of vascular plants, aphyllophoroid, sac and basidial fungi and lichens of the Republic of Karelia. Studies of vascular plants and various groups of fungi have been carried out since the FRI foundation in 1957 and are continuing successfully at present, with new tasks being set and the geographic range of interests expanding to cover the entire Northwest Russia. The lichenofloristic research component appeared at FRI later (in 1985) and is also developing. Prominent scientists such as V. I. Krutov, M. L. Ramenskaya, and V. I. Shubin, Doctors of Biological Sciences who worked at the FRI, made a huge contribution to the study of the biodiversity of Karelia, Eastern Fennoscandia, and the forest zone of European Russia as a whole. The role of these scientists and their students or successors is great not only in advancing the knowledge of the species diversity of Karelia and adjacent regions, but also in treating various issues of nature protection and sustainable use of natural resources, especially forest resources. The Institute’s employees have played a leading role in building the system of protected areas (PAs) in Karelia, especially considering that the republic’s first PA, Kivach Strict Nature Reserve, used to be a FRI unit for quite long. Botanists and mycologists from FRI participated in compiling the inventory of the flora and mycobiota and in preparing scientific substantiation papers for many planned PAs. Research continues in the PAs after their designation. Employees of the FRI prepared the first (unofficial) edition of the regional Red Data Book and then participated as leading authors in the preparation of three official editions of the Red Data Book. At present, many direct students (postgraduates) or successors of the pioneers in the study of the species diversity of vascular plants and fungi V. I. Krutov, M. L. Ramenskaya, and V. I. Shubin continue to work productively at the Institute.

Ecological and coenotic groups of Southern Trans-Urals vascular plants flora and biotopes phytoindication

The expert and statistical assessment of ecological and coenotic groups of Southern Trans-Urals vascular plants flora has been done for A.L. Belgards coenomorphs scheme and scheme of vascular plants flora of temperate forest zone of European Russia. Both suggested schemes of groups give adequate and similar assessment of biotopes. The proposed groups of vascular plants flora are identified in phytometer scales space definitely and can be used for regional assessment of biotopes. The best assessment of ecological flora of region is realized by combined coenomorphs and coenotic group schemes approach at the same time. The authors have established regimes of principal ecological factors that identified differentiation flora by coenotic groups and ultimate for specific groups forming in Southern Trans-Urals habitats. Sylvant coenomorph has been formed by boreal (acidic soils phytometers) and nemoral sciophytes and heliosciophytes, moreover a nemoral group must be understood as a group of shady forests on rich soils. The sylvant pine forest group is heterogeneous and not coenoticaly specific. The steppe coenotic group has been formed of obligate and facultative heliophytes of mostly dry biotopes, pratal coenomorph is heterogeneous and not coenoticaly specific and made up of humidity-meadow flora, dry-meadow coenotic group is not specific. For Southern Trans-Urals region it is recommended to use unite paludal coenomorphs but with a separation of coenotic group of oligotrophic bogs. The separation of ruderal coenomorph (phytometers of dry-meadow moistening and rich of nitrogen soils) is confirmed statistically. The authors have established regimes of principal ecological factors for stenotopic ecological and coenotic groups of Southern Trans-Urals region. For coenotic groups of Southern Trans-Urals region the authors have identified biotopical centres and biotopic and coenotic series which are associated with moistening, aeration and saline soil conditions and brightness regime.

Contemporary Trends in River Flow, Suspended Sediment Load, and Soil/Gully Erosion in the South of the Boreal Forest Zone of European Russia: The Vyatka River Basin

Recent decades in the north of the East European Plain have been characterized by significant changes in climate and land use/cover, especially after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. At the same time, the hydrological consequences of these changes, especially changes in erosion processes and river sediment load, have been studied insufficiently. This paper partially covers this existing knowledge gap using the example of the Vyatka River basin. Draining an area of 129,000 km2, the Vyatka River is among the largest rivers in the boreal forest zone of European Russia. Cultivated land occupies about one-fifth of the river basin area; about three-fourths is covered by taiga forest vegetation. The results of state long-term hydrometeorological monitoring and information on land use/cover made it possible to reveal contemporary (since the 1960s) hydrological and erosion-intensity trends and their drivers within the greater (96%) part of the river basin. There has been a statistically insignificant increase in water discharge in the Vyatka River basin during recent decades. This is due to a statistically insignificant increase (for the entire basin studied) in the spring snowmelt-induced floodwater flow and a statistically significant rise in the discharge in the year’s warm and cold seasons. The main reason for the detected trends is increased precipitation, including heavy rainfall during the warm season. In contrast to this, the total annual suspended sediment load of the river (especially that which was snowmelt-induced) and, consequently, soil/gully erosion intensity have experienced a significant decrease in recent decades (up to 58% between 1960–1980 and 2010–2018). Land-use/-cover changes (a reduction of cultivated land area and agricultural machinery, a decline of livestock in pastures) following the collapse of the Soviet Union are considered the main reasons for this decrease. The most noticeable changes in water discharge, suspended sediment load, and erosion intensity were observed in the most agriculturally developed southwest and south parts of the Vyatka River basin. All the above trends may be considered with a high probability to be representative for the south sector of the taiga zone of the East European Plain.

A detailed reconstruction of changes in the factors and parameters of soil erosion over the past 250 years in the forest zone of European Russia (Moscow region)

Accelerated soil erosion is a major threat to soil, and there are great variations in the rate of soil erosion over time due to natural and human-induced factors. The temperate forest zone of Russia is characterized by complex stages of land-use history (i.e. active urbanization, agricultural development, land abandonment, etc.). We have for the first time estimated the rates of soil erosion by the WaTEM/SEDEM model (rainfall erosion) and by a regional model (snowmelt erosion) over the past 250 years (from 1780 to 2019) for a 100-km2 study site in the Moscow region of Russia. The calculations were made on the basis of a detailed historical reconstruction of the following factors: the location of the arable land, crop rotation, the rain erosivity factor, and the maximum snow water equivalent. The area of arable land has decreased more than 3.5-fold over the past 250 years. At the end of the 20th century, the rates of gross erosion had declined more than 5.5-fold (from 28 × 103 to 5 × 103 tˑha−1ˑyr−1) in comparison with the end of the 18th century. Changes in the boundaries of arable land and also the relief features had led to a significant intra-slope accumulation of sediments. As a result of sediment redeposition within the arable land, the variation in net soil erosion was significantly lower than the variation in gross soil erosion. The changes in arable land area and in crop composition are the factors that have to the greatest extent determined the changes in soil erosion in this territory.

Environments of Formation of Severe Squalls and Tornadoes Causing Large-scale Windthrows in the Forest Zone of European Russia and the Ural

Environments of Formation of Severe Squalls and Tornadoes Causing Large-scale Windthrows in the Forest Zone of European Russia and the Ural

УСЛОВИЯ ВОЗНИКНОВЕНИЯ СИЛЬНЫХ ШКВАЛОВ И СМЕРЧЕЙ, ВЫЗЫВАЮЩИХ КРУПНЫЕ ВЕТРОВАЛЫ В ЛЕСНОЙ ЗОНЕ ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЙ ЧАСТИ РОССИИ И УРАЛА

The environments of 53 severe squalls and tornadoes that caused large-scale windthrows in the forest zone of European Russia and the Ural in 1989–2019 are analyzed. The CFSR and ERA-5 reanalyses and sounding data were used to estimate characteristics of the environments including convective instability indices. It was found that the substantial temperature gradient on the atmospheric front (9.6C/500 km on average) and the jet stream presence in the lower or middle troposphere oriented along the frontal zone are important factors to estimate environments of the formation of severe squalls and tornadoes. In most cases, squalls and tornadoes require a combination of high precipitable water content (40 mm on average), moderate or high convective instability (CAPE >1000 J/kg), and moderate or strong wind shear. High precipitable water content and strong convective instability are important for the formation of squalls, while low-level wind shear plays a principal role for the tornado generation.

A satellite-derived database for stand-replacing windthrow events in boreal forests of European Russia in 1986–2017

Abstract. Severe winds are among the main causes of disturbances in boreal and temperate forests. Here, we present a new geographic information system (GIS) database of stand-replacing windthrow events in the forest zone of European Russia (ER) for the 1986–2017 period. The delineation of windthrow areas was based on the full Landsat archive and two Landsat-derived products on forest cover change, namely the Global Forest Change and the Eastern Europe's forest cover change datasets. Subsequent verification and analysis of each windthrow was carried out manually to determine the type of related storm event, its date or date range, and geometrical characteristics. The database contains 102 747 elementary areas of damaged forest that were combined into 700 windthrow events caused by 486 convective or non-convective storms. The database includes stand-replacing windthrows only with an area > 0.05 and > 0.25 km2 for the events caused by tornadoes and other storms, respectively. Additional information such as weather station reports and event descriptions from media sources is also provided. The total area of stand-replacing windthrows amounts to 2966 km2, which is 0.19 % of the forested area of the study region. Convective windstorms contribute 82.5 % to the total wind-damaged area, while tornadoes and non-convective windstorms are responsible for 12.9 % and 4.6 % of this area, respectively. Most of the windthrow events in ER happened in summer, which is in contrast to Western and Central Europe, where they mainly occur in autumn and winter. Due to several data and method limitations, the compiled database is spatially and temporally inhomogeneous and hence incomplete. Despite this incompleteness, the presented database provides a valuable source of spatial and temporal information on windthrow in ER and can be used by both science and management. The database is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12073278.v6 (Shikhov et al., 2020).

Ecological and coenotic groups of Orenburg Region vascular plants flora and biotopes phytoindication

The expert and statistical assessment of ecological and coenotic groups of Orenburg Region vascular plants flora has been done for A.L. Belgards coenomorphs scheme and scheme of vascular plants flora of temperate forest zone of European Russia. The regimes of principal ecological factors have identified for detected groups of flora. Both suggested schemes of groups give adequate and similar assessment of biotopes, proposed groups of Orenburg Region vascular plants flora are identified in phytometer scales space definitely and its groups can used for regional assessment of biotopes. It has been established, that steppe coenomorph has extensive coenotic amplitude in Orenburg Region conditions and make petrophilic, chasmophilic, mountain and semi-desert vegetation elements also. Sylvant coenomorph has formed boreal and nemoral sciophytes and heliosciophytes and coenotic group of semiarid steppe forests has not specific biotopic and coenotic value. Pratal coenomorph has been made up humidity-meadow flora, dry-meadow coenotic group is not specific. For Orenburg Region is recommends using unite pratal (meadow) and paludal coenomorphs and separation coenotic group of oligotrophic bogs and ruderal coenomorph, the separation of mountain coenotic group is not confirmed statistical. The best assessment of ecological flora of region are realize by combined coenomorphs and coenotic group schemes approach at the same time. It has been established methodical problems of statistical methods using by phytoindication, problems of transitional coenotic groups and problem of wood species assessment in phytometer scales, which are require further researches.

Assessment of Organic Carbon Stocks in Forest Soils on a Regional Scale

Results of the comparison of organic carbon stocks in the automorphic and semihydromorphic forest soils are discussed. The database includes information on 289 soil profiles in the forest zone of European Russia. On the average, the total organic carbon pool (including forest litter) in semihydromorphic soils is three times higher than that in automorphic soils. The difference decreases with an increase in the thickness of the considered soil layer from 3.2 times for the layer of 0–30 cm to 2.6 times for the layer of 0–100 cm. The greatest difference in carbon stocks is noted for the organic horizons; in semihydromorphic soils, the carbon storage in them averages 73 ± 8.2 t C/ha; in automorphic soils, it is seven times smaller. The neglect of the contribution of semihydromorphic soils results in underestimation of the total soil organic carbon stock of the region. The degree of underestimation depends on the soil cover pattern of particular areas and on the thickness of the considered soil layer. Calculations made for Karelia show that the underestimation of organic carbon stocks in various landscapes ranges from 10 to 40%. For the total area of this republic, it is estimated at 22, 19, and 13% for the soil layers of 0–30, 0–50, and 0–100 cm, respectively. A comparative analysis of known pedotransfer functions for calculating soil bulk density shows that the best results (RMSE = 0.15; R2 = 0.36) for mineral horizons of forest soils in European Russia are provided by the pedotransfer function suggested by O.V. Chestnykh and D.G. Zamolodchikov.

Isotope markers of ecosystems and nutrition of the medieval rural population in the forest zone of European Russia

Isotope markers of ecosystems and nutrition of the medieval rural population in the forest zone of European Russia

Application Of The Denitrification-Decomposition (DNDC) Model To Retrospective Analysis Of The Carbon Cycle Components In Agrolandscapes Of The Central Forest Zone Of European Russia

The retrospective dynamics of major components of the carbon cycle under land use changes in the Central Forest zone of European Russia was investigated. This area is known as one of the most important agricultural and economical regions of the country. We applied the process-based simulation model DNDC (DeNitrification-DeComposition) recommended by UNCCC and world widely used. In this study the DNDC model was parameterized for Russian arable soils using official statistical information and data taken from published sources. Three main carbon variables in agrolandscapes were modelled: soil organic carbon, soil respiration, and net ecosystem exchange over the period of 1990-2017. For the analysis six administrative regions were selected: three with unchanged (permanent) arable land structure (Kaluga, Moscow, and Yaroslavl), and other three with changed crop rotation (Kostroma, Smolensk, and Tver). All regions in the study are characterized by homogeneous soil cover and similar cultivated crops. The results of the modelling were verified using the data from field CO 2 fluxes observations in the European part of Russia. In growing season, the agrolandscapes function as a net carbon sink and accumulate C from the atmosphere into plant biomass. The dynamics of organic carbon in soil under growing crops depends on organic fertilizers in cultivation technologies, and if they aren’t inputted, soil loses carbon. During the last 30 years the cumulative rates of net ecosystem exchange and soil respiration had decreased mostly due to reduction of arable land area. CO 2 emission and soil organic carbon losses are the most important controls of land degradation. Based on the dynamic patterns of CO 2 fluxes, the regions of the Central Forest zone could be separated into two groups. The group with central location characterized by intensive soil respiration and high rate of accumulation of organic carbon in soil, whereas peripheral group characterized by losses of soil organic carbon and low rates of soil respiration. According to the modelling, within the period of observations the inter-annual changes of carbon fluxes are mainly controlled by rising air temperature and heat supply, variable precipitation, and increasing concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere. Among human activity the most important are change of arable land area and decreasing amount of fertilizers.

Assessment of contemporary erosion/sedimentation rates trend within a small cultivated catchment using the radiocaesium-137 as a chronomarker (a case study from the Udmurt republic, European Russia)

This paper is devoted to revealing and estimating the contemporary soil erosion rates trend within arable lands in the south of the forest zone of European Russia, based on the study of sedimentation rates at a small dry valley bottom with almost completely cultivated catchment slopes. The dry valley catchment (0.68 km2) is located in the south part of the Udmurt Republic (the mixed forests zone) within the Izh River basin. The bomb-derived and Chernobyl-derived radiocaesium–137 was used for dating valley bottom sediments in two time intervals: 1954(1963)–1986 and 1986–2016. To analyze the causes of change in sediment redistribution rates, morphological and morphometric analyzes of the valley, the results of year-to-year observations for gully heads retreat in the catchment vicinities, hydrometeorological observations of the Russian Hydrometeorological Survey network, and also aero- and satellite images across years were used. There was a noticeable decrease in the sedimentation rates of washed-out soil material from the catchment slopes at the valley bottom over the past 60 years: from 1.8–2.5 cm/year during 1954–1986 to 0.15–0.75 cm/year for 1986–2016. Hence, the sedimentation rates have decreased by 2.5–3 times as a minimum. This trend is consistent with a decline of the average retreat rates of gully headcuts within cultivated lands in the Udmurt Republic over the past 40 years — from 1.3 m/year in 1978–1997 to 0.3 m/year in 1998–2014. We suppose that the main reason for such significant reduction of erosion rates was a increase in protective crop coefficient associated with a increase in the proportion of perennial grasses since the late 1980s. Additional contribution to the erosion reduction was owing to a decrease in surface snowmelt water runoff within the catchment area since the early 2000s, associated with the reduction in soil freezing depth and general increase in air temperature during the winter and spring months in this region of the Russian Plain.

Palaeoecological evidence for climatic and human impacts on vegetation in the temperate deciduous forest zone of European Russia during the last 4200 years: A case study from the Kaluzhskiye Zaseki Nature Reserve

Climate change and human activity considerably influenced the temperate European deciduous forests through the Holocene, with the anthropogenic impacts being detected even in currently protected areas. This paper is focused on the area of the Kaluzhskiye Zaseki Nature Reserve, which contains remnants of primary broadleaved forests in central European Russia. Here, we present a new multi-proxy record including pollen, plant macrofossils, charcoal, loss on ignition and radiocarbon dating from the Mochulya peatland supplemented by 14 radiocarbon dates of charcoal fragments from soil pits in the study area. The results show that Mochulya peatland was a fen throughout the most of the time it existed. During the last 4200 cal yr BP the study area was occupied by broadleaved forests of Quercus, Ulmus, and Tilia. Picea became relatively abundant after 2300 cal yr BP. Despite the long-term human impact, vegetation fragments of these forests have persisted in the area until the present. Three main periods of deforestation and frequent fires were identified: 3700–3200 cal yr BP, 2000–1600 cal yr BP (the Early Iron Age) and 1000–400 cal yr BP (the Medieval Period). Whereas human-induced vegetation changes were apparent during the last two periods, vegetation dynamics during 3700–3200 cal yr BP were likely caused, at least in part, by climatic factors.

Postglacial vegetation and climate history and traces of early human impact and agriculture in the present-day cool mixed forest zone of European Russia

This study is based on the reassessment and correlation of five pollen records from the upper Western Dvina River region. For the most complete record (Korovinskoe Mire; 56°16′N, 31°20′E) we constructed a Bayesian age-depth model to provide robust chronological control for the reconstructed changes in the regional environments and to facilitate interregional comparisons. The results show that the Holocene Thermal Maximum in the study region (ca. 8600–6900 cal BP) started and ended some centuries earlier than suggested for the neighboring Baltic region (ca. 8100–5600 cal BP). The spruce (Picea) pollen records corroborate other palaeobotanical records from the wider region indicating a relatively dry early and middle Holocene and cooler/wetter conditions after ca. 5400 cal BP. Local initial opening of forests by Neolithic populations is indicated by 7600 cal BP and a stepwise intensification of forest clearance is registered from ca. 4200/3700 and ca. 1400–1000 cal BP. There is evidence for an asynchronous pattern of human impact during the early period of occupation prior to ca. 4000 cal BP, which can be explained by a low density and uneven distribution of prehistoric hunter-fisher-gatherer populations. Although single Cerealia-type pollen grains are registered as early as ca. 6700 cal BP, intensive cultivation of cereals in the study region probably did not occur before ca. 1400 cal BP, i.e. much later than suggested for the Baltic states, Poland, and Belarus.

Palaeoecological data as a tool to predict possible future vegetation changes in the boreal forest zone of European Russia: a case study from the Central Forest Biosphere Reserve

New multi-proxy records (pollen, testate amoebae, and charcoal) were applied to reconstruct the vegetation dynamics in the boreal forest area of the southern part of Valdai Hills (the Central Forest Biosphere Reserve) during the Holocene. The reconstructions of the mean annual temperature and precipitation, the climate moisture index (CMI), peatland surface moisture, and fire activity have shown that climate change has a significant impact on the boreal forests of European Russia. Temperature growth and decreased moistening during the warmest phases of the Holocene Thermal Maximum in 7.0-6.2 ka BP and 6.0-5.5 ka BP and in the relatively warm phase in 3.4-2.5 ka BP led to structural changes in plant communities, specifically an increase in the abundance of broadleaf tree species in forest stands and the suppression of Picea. The frequency of forest fires was higher in that period, and it resulted in the replacement of spruce forests by secondary stands with Betula and Pinus. Despite significant changes in the climatic parameters projected for the 21st century using even the optimistic RCP2.6 scenario, the time lag between climate changes and vegetation responses makes any catastrophic vegetation disturbances (due to natural reasons) in the area in the 21st century unlikely.

Metals in 1–0.25 mm grain-size fraction in the soils of the mixed forest zone of the Russian plain

For an improved understanding of metal behavior in soils, studies on geochemical changes occurring in a specific grain-size fraction during pedogenesis and lateral translocation of soil material are needed. In the present research we analyzed the concentrations and vertical distributions of Fe, Mn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, Zn, Pb, Ti, Zr in coarse and medium sand fraction of the major soil types of the middle Protva basin, situated in the mixed forest zone of European Russia, and described patterns of downslope (lateral) distribution of metals in the humus horizons along two catenas and two types of small erosional systems. The observed concentrations for all metals in the fraction 1–0.25mm, except of Mn, conform to the natural geogenic concentrations reported previously in literature. The majority of the metals exhibit high natural variability in concentrations in the sand fraction. Higher metal concentrations are found either in the topsoil horizons or in parent material and underlying stratum. Studying lateral aspects of metal distribution in the sand fraction of humus horizons revealed a decrease in Mn, Zn, Pb, Co, Ti and an increase in Fe, Cr and Ni levels of the lower sections of the slopes. The similarity of metal concentrations in the sand fraction in these positions across two catenas implies the importance of the geochemical convergence processes operating in downslope direction. The small erosional landforms, a gully and a dry U-shaped valley, show similar patterns in lateral distribution of Fe, Cu, Ni, Cr, Zr, Zn, but they differ in terms of Pb, Co and Mn behavior across their elementary units: adjacent areas, slopes and bottom. The results imply that the features of vertical (within the soil profiles) and lateral (along catenas and small erosional systems) distributions of metals are significantly controlled by the provenance of the sand fraction, although at the same time some variations in metal contents seem are attributed to chemical transformations of the sand fraction due to pedogenic processes and during downslope translocation of soil material.

Landsat remote sensing of forest windfall disturbance

Knowing if a forest disturbance is caused by timber harvest or a natural event is crucial for carbon cycle assessments, econometric analyses of timber harvesting, and other research questions. However, while remote sensing of forest disturbance in general is very well developed, discerning between different types of forest disturbances remains challenging. In this work, we developed an algorithm to separate windfall disturbance from clear-cut harvesting using Landsat data. The method first extracts training data primarily based on Tasseled Cap transformed bands and histogram thresholds with minimal user input. We then used a support-vector machine classifier to separate disturbed areas into ‘windfall’ and ‘clear-cut harvests’. We tested our algorithm in the temperate forest zone of European Russia and the southern boreal forest zone of the United States. The forest-cover change classifications were highly accurate (~90%) and windfall classification accuracies were greater than 75% in both study areas. Accuracies were generally higher for larger disturbance patches. At the Russia study site about 60% of all disturbances were caused by windfall, versus 40% at the U.S. study site. Given the similar levels of accuracy in both locations and the ease of application, the algorithm has the potential to fill a research gap in mapping wind disturbance using Landsat data in both temperate and boreal forests that are subject to frequent wind events.

Growing season variability of net ecosystem CO2 exchange and evapotranspiration of a sphagnum mire in the broad-leaved forest zone of European Russia

The spatial and temporal variability of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 and evapotranspiration (ET) of a karst-hole sphagnum peat mire situated at the boundary between broad-leaved and forest–steppe zones in the central part of European Russia in the Tula region was described using results from field measurements. NEE and ET were measured using a portable measuring system consisting of a transparent ventilated chamber combined with an infrared CO2/H2O analyzer, LI-840A (Li-Cor, USA) along a transect from the southern peripheral part of the mire to its center under sunny clear-sky weather conditions in the period from May to September of 2012 and in May 2013. The results of the field measurements showed significant spatial and temporal variability of NEE and ET that was mainly influenced by incoming solar radiation and ground water level. The seasonal patterns of NEE and ET within the mire were quite different. During the entire growing season the central part of the mire was a sink of CO2 for the atmosphere. NEE reached maximal values in June–July (−6.8 ± 4.2 μmol m−2 s−1). The southern peripheral part of the mire, due to strong shading by the surrounding forest, was a sink of CO2 for the atmosphere in June–July only. ET reached maximal values in the well-lighted central parts of the mire in May (0.34 ± 0.20 mm h−1) mainly because of high air and surface temperatures and the very wet upper peat horizon and sphagnum moss. Herbaceous species made the maximum contribution to the total gross primary production (GPP) in both the central and the peripheral parts of the mire. The contribution of sphagnum to the total GPP of these plant communities was relatively small and ranged on sunny days of July–August from −1.1 ± 1.1 mgC g−1 of dry weight (DW) per hour in the peripheral zone of the mire to −0.6 ± 0.2 mgC g−1 DW h−1 at the mire center. The sphagnum layer made the maximum contribution to total ET at the mire center (0.25 ± 0.10 mm h−1) and the herbaceous species on the peripheral part of the mire (0.03 ± 0.03 mm h−1).

Hunter-Gatherer Pottery and Charred Residue Dating: New Results on Early Ceramics in the North Eurasian Forest Zone

This article discusses 18 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from the peat bog sites Sakhtysh 2a, Ozerki 5, and Ozerki 17 in the Upper Volga region. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the emergence and dispersal of early ceramic traditions in northern Eurasia and their connection to the Baltic. With 1 exception, all dates were obtained from charred residue adhering to the sherd. A possible reservoir effect was tested on 1 piece of pottery from Sakhtysh 2a by taking 1 sample from charred residue, and another sample from plant fiber remains. Although a reservoir effect was able to be ruled out in this particular case, 4 other dates from Sakhtysh 2a and Ozerki 5 seem too old on typological grounds and might have been affected by freshwater reservoir effects. Considering all other reliable dates, the Early Neolithic Upper Volga culture, and with it the adoption of ceramics, in the forest zone of European Russia started around 6000 cal BC.

Effect of the historical land use on the structure of forest soils in European Russia

The morphological structure of the soils in the forest areas of European Russia was analyzed. It was shown that most of the soils were formed under the impact of both biotic and anthropogenic factors. Soils with poorly differentiated profiles without podzolization features are typical for the least disturbed forest ecosystems. The presence of an eluvial (EL) horizon is associated with the signs of old plowing and (or) fires. The character and rate of the soil cover transformation under various impacts of the historical land use (felling, plowing, pasturing, burning, etc.) are discussed. The technologies of the main traditional farming systems in the forest zone of European Russia (slash-and-burn, fallow, and shifting farming systems) are considered; their effect on the long-term dynamics of the soil cover is estimated. Farming and the related impacts of historical land use can be a major reason for the formation of degraded soils in the forest zone of European Russia.