Modelling forest ground vegetation on landscape scale Larisa Khanina 1, Maxim Bobrovsky 2, Alexander Komarov 2, Alex Mikhajlov 2 1 Institute of Mathematical Biology, Russian Academy of Science, Pushchino, Russia 2 Institute of Soil Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, Russian Academy of Science, Pushchino, Russia DynamicDATA EU25+ Regional Workshop I

Ecosystem production Soil features Trees renewal Ground Vegetation EFIMOD

At the first step · an approach · an algorithm · a special software to calculate dynamics of ground vegetation diversity at a level of forest stand on a base of · Forest Inventory Data · forest simulated results

Our approach plant species functional groups in ground vegetation modelling ecological-coenotic species groups Ellenberg’s ecological indicator species values Species ordination scores (by ordination of phytosociological relevés) Multivariate analysis introduced in Nitsenko (1969)

Results of multivariate analysis ca forest vascular species were split into the functional groups Boreal Vaccinium myrtillus, Maianthemum bifolium, Pyrola rotundifolia, Linnaea borealis Nemoral Asarum europaeum, Aegopodium podagraria, Galeobdolon luteum, Milium effusum Piny Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Pteridium aquilinum, Antennaria dioica, Calluna vulgaris Nitrophilous Aconitum septentrionale, Stellaria nemorum, Urtica dioica Meadow Fragaria vesca, Alchemilla sp., Dactylis glomerata Water/Olg Caltha palustris, Typha angustifolia, Carex globularis

To use the groups for modelling dynamics of ground vegetation · to define the dominant group at the initial step of simulation · to define rules of the group switching according to dynamics of the simulated parameters tree species composition, light supply, deadwood volume, litter, soil fertility and moisture

Definition of dominant species groups at the initial step Dominant group(s) in ground vegetation Forest Inventory Data Dominant species in ground vegetation Database on ecological-coenotic groups of plant species

Definition of dominant species groups at the initial step Forest Inventory Data Forest Site Index - soil fertility and moisture Dominant tree species Regional probability tables of correspondence Tree Dominant – Forest Site Index - Dominant group in ground vegetation

Forest type biodiversity assessment Forest Type = Tree dominant + Dominant group in ground vegetation Vegetation Sample Plots Data Forest type biodiversity indices Average number of plant species per square unit Functional structure of ground vegetation

Modeling of forest ground vegetation Vege- tation (forest) type Dominant tree species in overstory Dominant ecologo-coenotic group in ground vegetation Stand characteristics from Forest Inventory Data Vege- tation (forest) type Dominant tree species in overstory Dominant ecologo-coenotic group in ground vegetation EFIMODsimulations Tree species composition Soil organic matter and nitrogen Deadwood time 1 time n

BioCalc - a software for dynamic analysis of forest ground vegetation diversity

BioCalc input data · tables of probabilistic distribution of the groups in ground vegetation according to the tree dominant and the forest site index · a correspondence table between a forest type and species diversity rank · a time series table of forest stand ecosystem parameters (EFIMOD runs)

Rules of functional groups switching User of the BioCalc software selects from the time series tables – in an interactive mode – thresholds for a number of ecosystem parameters. Reaching these thresholds causes a change of the dominant ecological-coenotic group. The user can observe all values of any ecosystem parameter displayed graphically

Rules of functional groups switching If the values are digital, a graphic is built where the values go in ascending order, which allows for easy detection of the thresholds

BioCalck outputs Dynamics of · ground vegetation functional groups, · forest types, and · species diversity ranks A link with Common-GIS (Andrienko, Andrienko, 1999) for visual exploration of ground vegetation dynamics at the landscape level

A case study experimental forestry “Russkii Les” 273-hectare forest lot with 104 stands Four strategies of silvicultural regimes for 200 years time span: ·natural development ·legal clear cutting ·selective cutting ·illegal clear cutting

(i) meadow group switched to boreal group when spruce began to dominate in overstorey (ii) any group switched to nemoral when oak began to dominate in overstorey (iii) piny group switched to boreal group when deadwood overpassed the 1st threshold value (iv) any group switched to nitrophilous group when deadwood overpassed the second threshold value, and (v) nitrophilous group switched to nemoral group when deadwood fell below the 2nd threshold value Case study rules of functional group switching

In the scenarios with clear cuttings: after the clear cutting, a dominant group was taken from a specially designed probabilistic table of the group distribution in ground vegetation designed for the after- clear-cutting conditions Case study rules of functional group switching

Tree dominant dynamics Selective cuttingsNatural development Illegal clear cuttingsLegal clear cuttings

Tree dominant dynamics The beginning Legal clear cutting Natural development Legal selective cutting Illegal clear cutting 200-year dynamics

Deadwood dynamics

Functional group dynamics Natural development Legal clear cuttingIllegal clear cutting Legal selective cuttings

Functional group dynamics The beginning Legal clear cutting Natural development Legal selective cutting Illegal clear cutting 200-year dynamics

Species diversity dynamics

The beginning Legal clear cutting Natural development Legal selective cutting Illegal clear cutting 200-year dynamics

Tree dominant dynamics – regional level 1 Pine, 2 Spruce, 3 Birch, 4 Aspen I initial state, II legal clear-cutting, III natural development 50-year dynamics

Functional group dynamics– regional level I initial state, II legal clear-cutting, III natural development 50-year dynamics

Species diversity dynamics – regional level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – ranks of species diversity I initial state, II legal clear-cutting, III natural development 50-year dynamics

used tree composition deadwood in progress humus amount nitrogen amount in planlight soil moisture EFIMOD parameters for ground vegetation dynamics

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