Forest state and dynamics of their species composition in the Central federal district

The analysis of the current state of forest cover and dynamics of species composition was carried out by 11 subjects of Central Federal District: 3 northern (Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Tver regions; Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies, Betula pendula), 4 central (Vladimir, Moscow, Kaluga, Smolensk regions; Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies, Betula pendula) and 4 southern (Tambov, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Belgorod regions; Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies, Betula pendula, Quercus robur). It has been established, that a birch increases its volume in the center of species range along the latitudinal vector, which is 33,2 : 41,4 : 13,5% in the north, center and south of District, respectively. It is shown that cross-specific competitive ability and survival rate of seed progenies of pine, on the contrary, are highest in the north and south, and minimal in the center of the species range. Most of seedlings are characterized by dwarfism, low viability and die during 1st vegetative season. The reasons of the irregular distribution of pine forests on the range territory, the apparent its gap in half over many years, and the factors, which accelerate or slow this process, are discussed. It has been suggested that the population instability of the gene pools of pine, spruce and oak at the territory of their traditional habitat in many respects is conditioned by the weakening of connections in the system “parents-progenies” as a result of plant evolution and forest cover on the whole.