Ecological and Cenotic Activity of Species of the Middle Taiga Flora

The control of the main weeds of forestry objects has always played an important role in forestry. The development of evidence-based measures, primarily in the areas of forest nurseries, relies on identifying the features of formation, functioning and activity of segetal plant species. The research aims at developing and adapting evidence-based approaches to the weed control in forest nurseries of the middle taiga zone of the European North by analyzing the ecological status of species in a particular agrophytocenosis and by differentiating species according to the nature of ecological and cenotic relationships. Data on plants was obtained in forest nurseries of Northwestern Russia. The diversity of plant communities was studied by route method throughout the forest agrocenoses, carrying out geobotanical descriptions of the ground cover. The projective cover of vascular plants was observed when describing the vegetation. The results revealed the following regularities: segetal flora is dominated by a group of predominantly weed species, consisting of eurytopic and active weed species (42 %); stenotopic and hemistenotopic plant species, the so-called typical or faithful complex species, represent 34 %; facultative plant species complete the series (24 %). The systematization of a large amount of scientific data became the basis for the theoretical substantiation and implementation in practice of monitoring the most active plant species in agrophytocenoses of forest nurseries. A comprehensive analysis of plant communities of forest nurseries allowed the authors to propose their floristic classification of vegetation. The presented classification considers all the floristic and ecological differences between the studied communities and can be used in the weed control in the northern part of the Russian plain. For citation: Konovalova I.S., Konovalov D.Yu. Ecological and Cenotic Activity of Species of the Middle Taiga Flora. Lesnoy Zhurnal = Russian Forestry Journal, 2022, no. 6, pp. 94–106. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2022-6-94-106