OVERGROWTH OF SCOTS PINE IN THE CRETACEOUS MOUNTAINS OF THE BELOGORYE RESERVE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: CONDITIONS AND CAUSES

The results of long-term studies of vegetation on the site of Cretaceous deposits of the Belogorye State Nature Reserve in the Belgorod region are presented. On the territory with Cretaceous out-crops, plants typical of chalk (calcephyls) grow. The appearance of other plants on Cretaceous soils, atypical for such conditions, indicates the processes of changing the upper soil layer and, accordingly, the ground cover. Successful natural reforestation on the slopes of the Cretaceous mountains of the Scots pine, and even the appearance in recent years of a single self-seeding of the black oak, the appearance of undergrowth, as in the situation with the ground cover, testifies to the processes of changing (improving) forest conditions associated with changes in climatic parameters.