The response of species in the ground cover of a Bilberry type Spruce stand to logging

Abstract

The results of research into the changes occurring in the ground cover of bilberry spruce forests in the north-taiga subzone of the Arkhangelsk Region in the first five years after clear-cutting are reported. In the clear-cuts situated away from roads and settlements the diversity of species (number and composition) remained practically unchanged compared to the forest before the cutting, but their abundances differed fundamentally between the three conventional ecotone zones: “forest”, “forest margin”, “clear-cut”. Changes in the percent cover and frequency of occurrence of 29 vascular plant species were investigated. Most of the species were classified into two groups: 1) where the percent cover and occurrence decreased after forest was changed to clear-cut (Carex globularis L., Empetrum nigrum L. s. l., Goodyera repens (L.) R. Br., Linnaea borealis L., Listera cordata (L.) R. Br., Melampyrum sylvaticum L., Orthilia secunda (L.) House, Oxalis acetosella L., Vaccinium myrtillus L.) and 2) positively responding to clear-cutting with a rise in abundance (Avenella flexuosa (L.) Drej, Calamagrostis phragmitoides C. Hartm., Chamaenerion angustifolium (L.) Scop., Luzula pilosa (L.) Willd., Melampyrum pratense L., Solidago virgaurea L., Maianthemum bifolium (L.) F. W. Schmidt, Rosa acicularis Lindl., and Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.). For the rest of the species the response to stand logging could not be determined by geobotanical methods, since their abundance was low in all the zones of the ecotone complex.

Keywords

• bilberry spruce stand
• ecotone
• forest margin
• clear-cut
• indicator species of undisturbed forests
• vascular plants diversity