Litters and Living Ground Cover as Informational Characteristics of Biogeocenoses for the Small-Leaved Forests in Moscow Oblast

• Published in: Eurasian soil science 2023-07, Vol.56 (7), p.841-853
• Main Authors: Telesnina, V. M., Semenyuk, O. V., Bogatyrev, L. G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acidity; Analysis; Ash content; Ashes; BCG; BCG vaccines; Biodiversity; Carex lacustris; Detritus; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Forests; Forests and forestry; Genesis and Geography of Soils; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Grasses; Ground cover; Indicators; Litter; Litters (births); Moisture effects; Organic matter; Parameters; Plant communities; Principal components analysis; Structure-function relationships; Watersheds
• ISSN: 1064-2293; 1556-195X
• DOI: 10.1134/S1064229323600513

The ecological and cenotic structure of the living ground cover and the structural and functional features of forest litter are studied for three types of forests: hairy sedge birch stand, hairy sedge birch–aspen stand, tussock grass birch stand, forming a sequence of increasing hydromorphism within the slope of near-watershed depression. An ecological characterization of the living ground cover is based on the ecological and cenotic grouping of species according to A.A. Nitsenko and ecological indicator scores by L.G. Ramensky and H. Ellenberg. An increase in hydromorphism is accompanied by an increase in the ecological and cenotic diversity. The total degree of trophicity also increases under conditions of high hydromorphism (in the tussock grass birch forest stand) in combination with a low Ellenberg score for acidity. On the contrary, the maximum scores for these indicators on the background of a high variation are observable in the birch–aspen forest, which occupies intermediate positions in the series of increasing hydromorphism. Characteristic of the studied forest stands are destructive and fermentative litters. With an increase in hydromorphism, the litter stock increases as well (from 400 to 1400 g/m 2 ) with a concurrent increase in the share of detritus in the L subhorizon. About 60% of the total organic matter stock in the litter of small-leaved tree stands is represented by readily decomposable fractions. With regularly increasing ash content in the L–F subhorizons, the maximum ash content is characteristic of the detritus fraction in L subhorizon. The parameters of the ecological characterization used in principal component analysis show a good grouping of the studied phytocenoses according to the degree of moistening, especially when using the main properties of litter (stock, thickness, and the share of detritus). It is reasonable to use the properties of litter when looking for similarity and differences of the studied phytocenoses as characteristics that integrate the specific features of moisture regime. The parameters of the living ground cover together with a number of specific structural and functional features of forest litter are adequate indicators of the degree of hydromorphism.