FEATURES OF THE STRUCTURE OF VEGETATION COVER IN PINE PLANTINGS OF DIFFERENT AGES

The forming of stable communities from artificial pine plantings as a result of reforestation activities is a multi-year process. Monitoring the dynamics of restoration succession at different stages of its development makes it possible to establish the possibility of introducing plant populations growing in pine forests in the European part of Russia into artificial forest plantations. The presence and filling of tiers with populations of species characteristic of pine forests is the basis for the stability of forest ecosystems. As a result of the work carried out, the floristic composition of old-growth forests (pine age 109-140 years) and young, 10-12-year-old plantings had been studied. An analysis of the species composition of the researching areas showed that in pine plantings, over time, layering becomes well defined, at the same time, a number of species characteristic of dry, illuminated habitats retain their presence in communities of both young and old age. In general, forest communities as they develop are characterized by a decrease in species diversity, because the main strategy of species of the second and subsequent tiers is the search for an ecological niche in which they could continue active life in conditions of limited lighting.