Forest pathological monitoring of different types protective planting in Lower Volga region

In maintaining the material and energy balance of dry-steppe and semi-desert ecosystems, the main active component is forest-reclamation complexes of various purposes. In addition to environmental stabilization and other economic functions, protective plantings are also reserves of regional biodiversity. Research was carried out on permanent test sites in dendrological collections and protective forest stands of the Federal Research Center of Agroecology of RAS, as well as in recreational and landscaping plantings using route and stationary methods in different types of forest plantations that differ in condition, level of anthropogenic impact and maintenance regime. The assessment of the forest pathology status of stands was carried out using standard methods and in accordance with the current guidelines for forest pathology survey of plantings and forest pathology monitoring. It was found that in the spectrum of the examined plants, the most prosperous state of the dendroflora is distinguished by arboretums and forest belts. Urban plantings are dominated by severely weakened and shrinking trees (up to 80.0%). The main pathologies in them were shrunken tops and skeletal branches, xylophages, diseases of foliage, wood and trunks. The least pronounced anomalies of woody plants in forest belts (10.7-22.0% lower than in other types of plantings).

Forest pathology studies of transboundary territories in Asian Russia

A number of cross-border national parks have been established in the border areas of Russia. On the basis of the studies carried out, it is possible to outline a number of current forest pathology challenges facing the national parks. A full picture of sanitary state of the forest can only be obtained by detailed special surveys. It is necessary to organise monitoring of insects and phytopathogenic fungi on permanent touristic routs and model sites. When determining the situation with forest pathology in a vast region, a systematic approach is required. It includes a consistent study of the composition of pathogens, the selection among them of species causing epiphytotics, identification of their biological and ecological characteristics, assessment of the ecological and economic significance, a study of factors that increase the harmfulness. This makes it possible to determine the range of pathogens to be monitored, to identify forest areas with the highest probability of disease outbreak.

CONSEQUENCES OF CONTINUOUS SANITARY LOGGING IN THE TOTEM FOREST AREA OF THE VOLOGDA REGION

На основании материалов лесопатологических обследований и других ведомственных материалов То- темского лесничества Вологодской области были проанализированы объемы санитарно-оздоровительных мероприятий за период с 2008 по 2019 гг. Установлено, что повышенный отпад деревьев и даже гибель древостоев обусловлены целым рядом природных факторов, главными из которых являются штормовые ветры, лесные пожары и подъем уровня грунтовых вод. Так, в частности, в 2010 г. штормовыми ветрами было повреждено свыше 15 тыс. га лесных насаждений, в том числе на 447 га зафиксирован сплошной ветровал и бурелом. Поврежденные ветром еловые насаждения интенсивно заселяются насекомыми-вредителями, в частно- сти короедом-типографом (Ips typographus L.), что нередко приводит к гибели древостоев. Оперативное проведение лесопатологических обследований и санитарно-оздоровительных мероприя- тий (выборочные и сплошные санитарные рубки) позволило избежать экологической катастрофы и мини- мизировать нанесенный стихийными бедствиями ущерб. На участках сплошных санитарных рубок были проведены лесовосстановительные мероприятия. При этом за период с 2012 по 2019 гг. на 17 % площади сплошных санитарных рубок были созданы лесные культуры, а на 77 % проведены мероприятия по содей- ствию естественному лесовозобновлению. Интенсивное зарастание вырубок мягколиственными породами вызывает необходимость проведения систематических рубок ухода с целью предотвращения нежелательной смены коренных еловых насажде- ний на производные мягколиственные. Based on the materials of forest pathology surveys and other departmental materials of the totem forestry of the Vologda region, the volumes of sanitary and health measures for the period from 2008 to 2019 were analyzed. It is established that the increased loss of trees and even the death of stands are caused by a number of natural factors.The main ones are Gale-force winds, forest fi res, and rising ground water levels. In particular, in 2010, storm winds damaged more than 15 thousand hectares of forest stands, including 447 hectares recorded continuous wind and windfall. Wind-damaged spruce stands are intensively populated by insect pests, in particular the bark beetle (Ips typographus L.), which often leads to the death of stands. Prompt forest pathology surveys and sanitary and health measures (selective and continuous sanitary logging) allowed avoiding environmental disasters and minimizing the damage caused by natural disasters. Reforestation activities were carried out on the areas of continuous sanitary logging. At the same time, 17 % of the area of continuous sanitary logging was created by forest crops, and 77 % of the activities were carried out to promote natural reforestation. Intensive overgrowth of cuttings with soft-leaved species makes it necessary to carry out systematic logging in order to prevent undesirable change of native spruce stands to soft-leaved derivatives.

Harmonising the fields of invasion science and forest pathology

Invasive alien species are widely recognised as significant drivers of global environmental change, with far reaching ecological and socio-economic impacts. The trend of continuous increases in first records, with no apparent sign of saturation, is consistent across all taxonomic groups. However, taxonomic biases exist in the extent to which invasion processes have been studied. Invasive forest pathogens have caused, and they continue to result in dramatic damage to natural forests and woody ecosystems, yet their impacts are substantially underrepresented in the invasion science literature. Conversely, most studies of forest pathogens have been undertaken in the absence of a connection to the frameworks developed and used to study biological invasions. We believe this is, in part, a consequence of the mechanistic approach of the discipline of forest pathology; one that has been inherited from the broader discipline of plant pathology. Rather than investigating the origins of, and the processes driving the arrival of invasive microorganisms, the focus of pathologists is generally to investigate specific interactions between hosts and pathogens, with an emphasis on controlling the resulting disease problems. In contrast, central to the field of invasion science, which finds its roots in ecology, is the development and testing of general concepts and frameworks. The lack of knowledge of microbial biodiversity and ecology, speciation and geographic origin present challenges in understanding invasive forest pathogens under existing frameworks, and there is a need to address this shortfall. Advances in molecular technologies such as gene and genome sequencing and metagenomics studies have increased the “visibility” of microorganisms. We consider whether these technologies are being adequately applied to address the gaps between forest pathology and invasion science. We also interrogate the extent to which the two fields stand to gain by becoming more closely linked.

Selection of Satellite Image Series for the Determination of Forest Pathology Dynamics Taking Into Account Cloud Coverage and Image Distortions Based on the Data Obtained from the Key Point Detector

Remote sensing of the earth and monitoring of various phenomena have been and still remain an important task for solving various problems. One of them is the forest pathology dynamics determining. Assuming its dependence on various factors forest pathology can be either short-term or long-term. Sometimes it is necessary to analyze satellite images within a period of several years in order to determine the dynamics of forest pathology. So it is connected with some special aspects and makes such analysis in manual mode impossible. At the same time automated methods face the problem of identifying a series of suitable images even though they are not covered by clouds, shadows, turbulence and other distortions. Classical methods of nebulosity determination based either on neural network or decision functions do not always give an acceptable result, because the cloud coverage by itself can be either of cirrus intortus type or insignificant within the image, but in case of cloudiness it can be the reason for wrong analysis of the area under examination. The article proposes a new approach for the analysis and selection of images based on key point detectors connected neither with cloudiness determination nor distorted area identification, but with the extraction of suitable images eliminating those that by their characteristics are unfit for forest pathology determination. Experiments have shown that the accuracy of this approach is higher than of currently used method in GIS, which is based on cloud detector.