The Eurosiberian Transect: an introduction to the experimental region

Abstract

An introduction is given to the geography of Russian forests and to the specific conditions of the study sites located along the 60 • latitude east of Moscow (Fyedorovskoe) near the Ural Mountains (Syktivkar) and in Central Siberia near the Yennisei river (Zotino). The climatic conditions were similar at all three sites. The main ecological parameter that changes between European Russia and Siberia is the length of the growing season (230 d above 0 • C NE Moscow to 170 d above 0 • C in Central Siberia) and to a lesser extent precipitation (580 mm NE Moscow to 530 mm in Central Siberia). The experimental sites were generally similar to the regional conditions, although the Tver region has less forest and more grassland than the central forest reserve, and the Komi region has slightly less wetland than the study area. The Krasnoyarsk region reaches from the arctic ocean to arid central Asia and contains a significant proportion of non-forest land. The boreal forest of west and east Yennisei differs mainly with respect to wetlands, which cover almost half of the land area on the west bank. All sites are prone to disturbance. Heavy winds and drought or surplus water are the main disturbance factors in European Russia (a 15-20 yr cycle), and fire is the dominating disturbance factor in Siberia (220-375 yr for stand replacing fires).

Year‐round measurements of net ecosystem CO2 flux over a montane larch forest in Mongolia

“…Owing to its large distribution area, it plays a critical role in balancing the global carbon budget [ Goulden et al , 1997; Myneni et al , 1997; Field et al , 1998; Houghton et al , 1998; Malhi et al , 1999; Schulze et al , 1999; Ciais et al , 2000; Geider et al , 2001] and mitigating global climate [ Foley et al , 1994; Bonan et al , 1995; Dixon et al , 1996; Beerling , 1999; Kasischke and Stocks , 2000; Foley et al , 2003]. The boreal forest is also one of the most intensively studied ecosystem in the flux measurement community, for instance, in the Boreal Ecosystem‐Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) [ Sellers et al , 1997; Hall , 1999, 2001], the Northern Hemisphere Climate‐Processes Land‐Surface Experiment (NOPEX) [ Halldin et al , 1999], and the EuroSiberian Carbonflux project [ Schulze et al , 2002]. The boreal forests can act as either sources or sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide [ Malhi et al , 1999; Chapin et al , 2000; Valentini et al , 2000].…”

Application of BIOME-BGC model to managed forests

“…In floodplain areas, the local precipitation may not meet the evaporation demand and high forest production can only be granted by the availability of underground water (Pietsch et al, 2003;Molchanov and Molchanova, 2000). The importance of drainage was shown to be important, e.g., for a landscape in Central Russia, where a minor slope would result in more productive stands as compared to those in flat watersheds (Schultze et al, 2002). On the other hand, such situations are not common in the more or less hilly forested landscape of the Czech Republic, the subject of the current study.…”

A multitracer study of peat profiles from Tunguska, Siberia

“…The territory is snow covered for long periods during the year, and has continuous permafrost. The main wind pattern is characterized by northerly winds from the Arctic in summer and by southerly winds in winter (Schulze et al, 2002).…”