Current vegetation dynamics of the “forest-mountain tundra” ecotones of Lake Baikal coastal ranges.docVIP

Vol.5, No.2, 187-193 (2013) Natural Science /10.4236/ns.2013.52029 Current vegetation dynamics of the “forest-mountain tundra” ecotones of Lake Baikal coastal ranges Alexander Sizykh , Victor Voronin * Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia; Corresponding Author: alexander_sizykh@ * Received 9 December 2012; revised 10 January 2013; accepted 24 January 2013 ABSTRACT vegetation can be revealed from data of studies of spatio- temporal dynamics of forest upper boundary within a concrete mountain system as of a consistent geosystem resulted from matter-energy interactions formed during several centuries. The existing forest boundary under the conditions of altitudinal zonality can be a starting point for past, occurring at present and probable changes in the spatial structure of vegetation at different scenarios of climate changes. During last decades, new trends appeared in the ecotones of the upper boundary of forests at the ridges surrounding Lake Baikal (Khamar-Daban and Baikal’sky Ridge): ones to advance of wood species (Pinus sibirica Du Tour, Abies sibirica Ledeb., Larix sibirica Ledeb., Larix dahurica Law- son) out of timber stands into the area of sub- goltsy with Pinus pumila (Pallas) Regel. up to mountain tundras. In average, this is from 100 to 200 - 300 meters (maximum up to 500 m) in lin- ear distance from the margin of dense timber stand. A burst of forests renewal occurred in 1989-1995, it resulted probably from a high pro- ductivity of the seeds of wood species due to warmer winters in 1980ies-1990ies which favour- ed the formation of favourable climate-edaphic conditions for the development of forest com- munities above the forests boundary on the rid- ges surrounding Lake Baikal. 2. BACKGROUND Forest ecosystems of Northern Eurasia are one of the main components of regulation of global clim