Assessment of the forest seed material quality at the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) experimental site during adaptive restoration of forest landscapes

Abstract

When choosing a technology for restoring forest landscapes, the quality of forest seed material is a significant factor. To develop a reference information system to support decision-making for adaptive restoration of forest landscapes, it is necessary to have data on the types and quality of forest seed material. Existing studies directly or indirectly confirm, on the one hand, the influence of seed quality on the quality of future plantations, on the other hand, the influence of forest characteristics on the quality and quantity of seeds. Preservation of the quality of forest seed material in conditions of large-scale harvesting of Scots pine seeds (Pinus sylvestris L.) is possible with the development of permanent forest seed plots, and (or) the use of modern technologies for separating forest seeds without loss of genetic diversity and increasing not only germination and seed germination energy, but also the vitality of seedlings, their stability to the change of abiotic factors. Descriptive statistics of biometric parameters of trees and cones of Scots pine on the experimental site (N51°50.00'; E39°22.09', 113 m ASL) demonstrates the following values (average; average error): the height of the tree (186.2; 11.7), the diameter of the root neck of the tree (5.9; 0.3), the ratio of the height of the tree to the diameter of the root neck (31.90; 0.97), the number of cones (9; 4), the number of seeds (12; 5). There is a strong positive correlation at the level of p < 0.0001 between diameter and height, a strong positive correlation between the number of cones and the number of seeds (p < 0.001), a strong positive correlation (p < 0.05) between the height of the tree and the number of cones. In the future, it is planned to evaluate the relationship of accumulated degree days, accumulated precipitation, normalized difference vegetation index with the cones and seeds number.