FOREST FORMATION PROCESS IN EXTREMELY NARROW FOREST SHELTER BELT

Abstract

In the last 30 years, hundreds of thousands of hectares of young shelterbelts in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Russia were left without proper forest management, and their condition is deteriorating every year. Forest belts are losing their protective and ameliorative functions, while the degradation of agricultural landscapes under the pressure of intensive production continues. For the successful functioning of agricultural landscapes, the presence of forest components is necessary, as stated by the founder of Russian soil science, prof. V.V. Dokuchaev. The article reveals the process of evolution of the forest belt, consisting of a narrow chain of English oak biogroups into a full-fledged forest biocenosis. Forest elements are formed in the forest belt: forest edge, forest litter, self-sowing of oak, Norway maple, red leaved ash, pear, hawthorn and blackthorn. The unsatisfactory condition of 58-year-old oak trees grown per 1 m2 from two to twelve pieces without thinning has been analyzed. The authors came to the conclusion that Yu. Odum's theory of "mutual assistance" among individuals of a biogroup is valid only at the initial period of development of a single plant of a biogroup, after which competition begins. To obtain a viable biogroup, it is necessary to regulate the number of plants, in this case, oak trees. The process of regulation should be started from the moment of closing the crowns in the biogroup