The Current State of the Shelterbelt Featuring English Oak (Quercus robur L.) and Norway Maple (Acer platanoides L.) черешчатого (Quercus robur L.) и клена остролистного (Acer platanoides L.)

Abstract

Shelterbelt forests are one of the most important factors of ecological optimization of agrolandscape. The research purpose is to analyse the current state of the forest belt with the involvement of English oak (Quercus robur L.) and Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.) in the vicinity of Zolotaryovka village (Stanichno-Luganskiy district of Lugansk region, Ukraine) and development of necessary measures for belt's regeneration. Archival data on the time of planting and age of the studied object were not found out. Shelterbelts in Lugansk region were created in accordance with Stalin's plan for the transformation of nature, which was designed for the period from 1949 till 1965. We laid out two permanent trial plots due to the branch standard OST 56-69-83 in the studied plantation. We determined the composition of the shelterbelt, the diameter and mean height of trees and their condition by Kraft using the results of the enumerative inventory. The vital status of trees was estimated based on the "Sanitary regulations in the forests of the Russian Federation". Undergrowth of Norway maple, Tatarian maple and mahaleb cherry (Prunus mahaleb L.) is the most numerous under the canopy of parent plantations. These species originally were not in the stand composition of the shelterbelt. It has been found that in the stand there is a forest-forming process aimed at formation of a forest biocenosis with predominance of Norway maple. The decisive factor affecting the condition of oak trees in the shelterbelts is the condition of their last rows. The survival rate of oak depends on the fall of Norway maple with the natural formation of forest stand in the plantation created by the corridor or ordinary way. It was revealed that it is necessary to carry out increment felling in the rows of Norway maple in order to improve the conditions for growth and development of English oak in the studied plantation. If a set of measures for promotion of tree regeneration in the shelterbelt is not carried out, then in the future there may be a change of English oak to Norway maple and Tatarian maple trees.