Shiny cotoneaster (Cotoneaster lucidus Schlecht.) is one of the oldest plants. It originated in Southeast Asia and has many primitive traits. Its survival strategy is fascinating. Its introduction range extends throughout Eurasia. The cotoneaster has been actively introduced to all forest parks and city forests around Yekaterinburg. Its spread was facilitated by the presence of edible, long-preserved fruits on the shoots, which were the food supply for many bird species. The research aims at analyzing the distribution patterns and features of ecological occurrence of Cotoneaster lucidus in the forest parks of Yekaterinburg. There were 15 forest parks surveyed, and in 11 of them it is found in the undergrowth. The studies were carried out on the basis of forest inventory materials. Local habitats were monitored in four forest parks most visited by the population of the city: Sanatorny Forest Park, Uktusskiy Forest Park, Park named after Foresters of Russia, Shartashskaya Forest Park. Optimal environment for cotoneaster growth are mixed herbs pine forests with stand density of 0.7–0.8. Mature stands of the 1st resistance class are also appropriate. The highest occurrence of cotoneaster in the Central Forest Park is 7 % of the total area of the forest park. The density of cotoneaster increases with increasing stand density from 320 to 1,140 individuals. At a density of 0.3–0.5 the number of individuals per unit area decreases, and at 0.1–0.2 cotoneaster disappears completely as a result of increased anthropogenic load and the inflow of light in excessive amounts. High shade tolerance is a bioecological feature of Cotoneaster lucidus. Morphometric parameters of plants in the studied forest parks depend on the density of the tree canopy; the maximum values were found for specimens in the Sanatorny Forest Park, where the distribution of shrubs is rare with a density of the stand of 0.7. A positive correlation of plant height with projection area and crown volume was found. The spatial distribution of individuals varies depending on the forest park and its attendance by people. For instance, in the Shartashsky Forest Park 60.4 % of cotoneasters are located in dense undergrowth, and in the Uktusskiy Forest Park 66.7 % are found in sparse undergrowth. Immature individuals are present in all of the Forest Parks, which indicates successful naturalization and high potential of the species.

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Climate warming has been recorded over the last decades. The air temperature in Yekaterinburg has been rising since the 1930s. Temperatures dropped sharply in 1940–1949, then rose sharply and fell again, especially in 1967–1968, when many large introduced species considered to be adapted died: Phellodendron amurense Rupr. and Pseudotsuga taxifolia (Lindl.) Britt. Due to the cyclical nature of weather conditions, it was necessary to assess the features of adaptation and state of the introduced plants in recent years. Snowless autumn and winter, temperatures above zero in early spring are unfavourable for many species, especially or conifers. Thus, in 2014 much snow fell on October 16 and melted in 2 weeks, temperatures below zero did not afford plants to prepare for the winter; in March 2015 the temperature rose up to +10 °C while the ground temperature was below zero for a long time. As a result of physiological dryness 100 % of specimens of variegated forms of northern white cedar Thuja occidentalis L. `Ellwangeriana Aurea`, `Ericoides` died. In other forms the leafage died to the snow cover level and recovered after abundant rains: `Aurea spicata`, `Gold Pearl`, `Golden Globe`, `Lutescens`, `Semperaurea` and `Wareana Lutescens`. Due to a steady increase in the sum of positive temperatures and reaching a certain age, many conifer species entered the fruiting stage and gave self-seeding: Pinus peuce Grieseb, Pinus strobus L., Picea canadensis (Mill.) Britt. et al., Picea pungens Engelm., Pseudotsuga taxifolia (Lindl.) Britt., and Abies sachalinensis (F. Schmidt) Mast. In the warmest year of 2016, the latter gave an abundant yield – red-brown cones with protruding seed scales; a strong wind dropped them all. They remained under the snow for the winter and did not crumble (probably, the fruits were unripe), so Abies sachalinensis was mistaken for Keteleeria fortunei (A. Murray bis) Carrière), which has cones that do not crumble. Unusual flowering was observed in Crataegus oxyacantha L. `Rosea Plena`, Mespilus germanica L., Syringa reflexa C.K.Schneid, Hamamelis virginiana L. With the rise in average annual temperatures, the number of years with abnormal weather conditions increased and the condition of some plants deteriorated. For citation: Semkina L.A., Tishkina E.A. Growth and Productivity of Non-Indigenous Woody Species in the Middle Urals. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 6, pp. 100–109. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-6-100-109

A new form, Salix ledebouriana f. fastigiata I. V. Belyaeva, V. V. Byalt, O. V. Epanch. et Firsov, is described and its characteristics in cultivation in Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg are given.

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