Characteristic representatives of the fauna of broad-leaved forests are. Inhabitants of deciduous forests. There is a scheme of varieties of mixed forests

Mixed and broad-leaved forests, located between the steppes and taiga, occupy approximately 28% of the area of ​​the whole of Russia.

They include trees such as pine, spruce, larch, maple, oak. These forests are distinguished by a large number of fauna: predatory, herbivorous animals, birds.

The mild climate, which is typical for this area, contributes to the prosperity of various vegetation, so the forests are rich in berry bushes, mushrooms, and medicinal herbs.

What are mixed and broadleaf forests

Mixed forests are a natural zone of coniferous and deciduous trees with an admixture of approximately 7% of plants of a different type.

Broad-leaved forests are deciduous (summer green) trees with wide leaf blades.

Characteristics of mixed forests

There is a scheme of varieties of mixed forests:

It is characteristic that the description of the composition of the forest includes tiers of trees and shrubs of various heights:

Location of the zone of mixed and broadleaf forests

Mixed and broad-leaved forests of Russia have the following geographical position - they originate at the western borders and extend to the Ural Mountains.

Due to the openness of the zone to large full-flowing rivers - the Oka, the Volga, the Dnieper, moisture is felt in the forests. Deposits in these zones of clay, sand contribute to the development of lakes, swampy areas. The location of forests near the Atlantic Ocean, which has an impact on climate, is also important.

Climate

Mixed forests are most comfortable growing in mild, humid, temperate continental climates with a clear alternation of seasons (high temperatures in summer and low temperatures in winter). The southern and western parts account for about 700-800 mm of precipitation. It is this balanced climate that contributes to the cultivation of various crops here: wheat, flax, sugar beets, potatoes.

In broad-leaved forests, the climate changes from temperate continental to temperate, winters become warmer, and summers cooler, but average annual precipitation increases. This atmosphere allows the favorable growth of coniferous and broadleaf trees together.

Animal world

The world of forest dwellers is rich and varied. Deer, moose, hares, hedgehogs live here. The most common predators of the mixed forest are the fox, the wolf, the marten, the forest cat, the lynx, and the brown bear.

Mixed Forest Animals

Rodents live in the forests: mice, squirrels, rats. And in the European part of the forest, such rare inhabitants as the badger and lynx settled.

The forest floor and soil are inhabited by invertebrates that process the layer of fallen leaves. Leaf-eating insects live in the canopy of trees.

Birds of the mixed forest

This type of forest is perfect for birds: woodpeckers, capercaillie, tits that feed on caterpillars, and owls that are not averse to eating mice.

Plants of mixed forests

The temperate continental climate allows birch, alder, poplar, mountain ash, spruce, and pine to grow in mixed forests.

Willow feels very comfortable here due to sufficient humidity. The pride of this type of forest is oak, in mixed forests it grows tall, powerful and large, so it stands apart from other trees.

Mixed forests largely consist of shrubs: elderberry, wild raspberry, hazel, viburnum, which also loves moisture very much.

In addition to trees and shrubs, mixed forests are rich in various herbs, mosses and flowers. In the mixed forest, you can see such vegetation as fern, nettle, sedge, clover, horsetail, St. John's wort and many others. Flowers will delight the eye: chamomile, lilies of the valley, buttercups, bluebells, lungwort.

Dominant Soils

There are a lot of fallen leaves and needles in the forests, which, decomposing, form humus. In conditions of moderate humidity, mineral and organic substances accumulate in the upper soil layer.

Humus with organic matter are the main constituents of soddy-podzolic soil. From above, the soil is covered with vegetation, various herbs, mosses. The relief and properties of surface rocks can have a significant impact on the internal structure of the vegetation cover.

Ecological problems

In our time, one of the main environmental problems has become the problem of heterogeneity of forests, which is exacerbated by selective felling of trees by humans.

Despite the fact that the broad-leaved tree species differs from others in its rapid growth, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe forest has greatly decreased. Entrepreneurs are cutting down trees on a huge scale, which leads to other environmental problems - the accumulation of harmful gases in the atmosphere of our planet.

Over the past 7 years, forest fires have become more frequent, due to human negligence, entire hectares are burning.

Poachers illegally hunt forest inhabitants of a rare species.

Reserves of mixed and broad-leaved forests of Russia

Russia is filled with more and more nature reserves.

The most famous largest reserve is Bolshekhekhtsirsky (Khabarovsk Territory), which is protected by the state. It grows trees (more than 800 species), shrubs and herbaceous plants.

The specialists of this reserve carried out large-scale work to restore the population of bison, beaver, elk, and deer.

Another well-known large nature reserve is Kedrovaya Pad (Primorsky Territory). Only coniferous trees were supposed to grow here, but later representatives of a broad-leaved forest appeared: linden, maple, birch, oak.

Human economic activity

Forests have long been mastered by people.

The most popular human economic activity:

Features of mixed and broad-leaved forests:

Broad-leaved forests are a variety of deciduous forests formed by deciduous (summer green) trees with wide leaf blades.

Broad-leaved forests are confined to humid and moderately humid regions of a temperate climate with a weakened continentality, uniform distribution of precipitation throughout the year and relatively high temperatures. Soils under broad-leaved forests are sod-podzolic, gray forest, and some varieties of chernozem. They contain a relatively large amount of nutrients (this can be judged by the dark color of their upper horizons). Another feature of the soils under consideration is that, although they are sufficiently provided with moisture, they are well drained and do not have excess water.

The broad-leaved forest is characterized primarily by a wide variety of tree species. This is especially noticeable if we compare it with a coniferous forest, with a taiga. There are much more tree species here than in the taiga - sometimes you can count up to a dozen of them. The reason for the species richness of trees is that broad-leaved forests develop in more favorable natural conditions than taiga. Tree species that are demanding on climate and soil can grow here, which do not tolerate the harsh conditions of the taiga regions.

For a broad-leaved forest, it is characteristic that the various tree species that make up its composition have different heights, forming, as it were, several groups in height. The tallest trees are oak and ash, the lower ones are Norway maple, elm and linden, even lower ones are field maple, wild apple and pear. However, trees, as a rule, do not form distinctly expressed tiers, well delimited from each other. Oak usually dominates, other tree species most often play the role of satellites.

Sufficiently rich in broad-leaved forest and species composition of shrubs.

Different types of shrubs vary greatly in height.

The grass cover is usually well developed in the broad-leaved forest. Many plants have more or less large, wide leaf blades. Therefore, they are called oak broad grasses. Some of the herbs found in oak forests always grow in single specimens, never forming dense thickets. Others, on the contrary, can almost completely cover the soil over a large area. Almost all herbaceous plants that live in oak forests are perennials. Many of them reproduce poorly by seeds and support their existence mainly through vegetative propagation. Such plants, as a rule, have long above-ground or underground shoots that can quickly spread in different directions, capturing new territory.

In the European part of the Russian Federation, the main tree species of mixed forests are European spruce, birch and Scotch pine, broad-leaved forests are linden and oak; aspen, ash, elm, maple and hornbeam also grow. Agro-climatic conditions are favorable in most of the zone.

In the south of Primorye, the climate is monsoonal, warm, with a lot of precipitation, so the forests are rich in species of trees, shrubs and grasses, specific to the conditions of the Russian Far East. Several representatives of this wealth: Mongolian oak, ash-nosed, Amur velvet, Manchurian linden, Schmidt birch, Manchurian walnut. Coniferous-deciduous forests are characterized by Korean pine, spiky yew, Korean spruce, whole-leaved fir. For the second tier, the heart-leaved hornbeam, bird cherry Maak, Maksimovich's cherry, Amur lilac are typical. The grass cover of forests is also abundant in species, but I will only mention the well-known and respected in medicine ginseng.

A mixed forest is a territory in which deciduous and coniferous trees harmoniously coexist. If the admixture of tree species is more than 5% of the total volume of flora, we can already speak of a mixed type of forest.

The mixed forest forms a zone of coniferous-deciduous forests, and this is already a whole natural zone characteristic of forests in the temperate zone. There are also coniferous-small-leaved forests that are formed in the taiga as a result of the restoration of previously cut down pines or spruces, which begin to displace different types of birch and aspen.

Main characteristic

(Typical mixed forest)

Mixed forests almost always coexist with broad-leaved forests in the south. In the northern hemisphere, they also border the taiga.

There are the following types of mixed forests in the temperate zone:

• coniferous-broad-leaved;
• secondary small-leaved with the addition of coniferous and broad-leaved species;
• mixed, which is a combination of deciduous and evergreen species.

Subtropical mixed fox is distinguished by a combination of laurel and coniferous species. Any mixed forest is distinguished by a pronounced layering, as well as the presence of areas without a forest: the so-called opolye and woodlands.

Location of zones

Mixed forests as a combination of coniferous and broad-leaved species are found in the East European and West Siberian plains, as well as in the Carpathians, the Caucasus and the Far East.

In general, both mixed and broad-leaved forests do not occupy such a large share of the forest territory of the Russian Federation as coniferous taiga. The fact is that such ecosystems do not take root in Siberia. They are traditional only for the European and Far Eastern regions and at the same time grow in broken lines. Pure mixed forests are found south of the taiga, as well as beyond the Urals to the Amur region.

Climate

Forest plantations of mixed type are characterized by cold, but not very long winters and hot summers. Climatic conditions are such that precipitation does not exceed 700 mm per year. The moisture coefficient is increased, but may change during the summer. In our country, mixed forests stand on soddy-podzolic soil, and in the west - on brown forest soil. As a rule, winter temperatures do not fall below -10˚C.

Broad-leaved forest plantations are distinguished by a humid and moderately humid climate, where precipitation is distributed evenly throughout the year. At the same time, temperatures are quite high, and even in January it is never colder than -8˚C. High humidity and abundant heat stimulate the work of bacteria and fungal organisms, due to which the leaves quickly decompose, and the soil retains maximum fertility.

Features of the plant world

Features of biochemical and biological processes cause the density of species diversity as you move towards broad-leaved species. European mixed forests are distinguished by the obligatory presence of pine, spruce, maple, oak, linden, ash, elm, and viburnum, hazel, honeysuckle are in the lead among shrubs. Ferns are very common as herbs. Caucasian mixed forests in large volumes contain beech, fir, and Far Eastern - birch, walnut, hornbeam, larch. These same forests are distinguished by a variety of lianas.

Fauna representatives

Mixed forests are inhabited by those animals and birds that are generally considered typical for forest conditions. These are moose, foxes, wolves, bears, wild boars, hedgehogs, hares, badgers. If we talk about individual broad-leaved forests, then here the species diversity of birds, rodents and ungulates is especially striking. Roe deer, fallow deer, deer, beavers, muskrats and nutrias are found in such forests.

Economic activity

The temperate natural zone, including mixed forests, has long been mastered by local residents and is densely populated. An impressive part of the forest plantations was cut down several centuries ago, because of which the composition of the forest has changed and the proportion of small-leaved species has increased. In place of many forests, agricultural territories and settlements appeared.

Broad-leaved forests can generally be considered rare forest ecosystems. After the 17th century, they were cut down on a large scale, largely because wood was needed for the sailing fleet. Broad-leaved forests were also actively cut down for arable land and meadows. Oak plantations have been especially hard hit by such human activities, and it is unlikely that they will ever be restored.

The broad-leaved forest is characterized, first of all, by a wide variety of tree species. This is especially noticeable if we compare it with a coniferous forest, with a taiga. There are much more tree species here than in the taiga - sometimes you can count up to a dozen of them. The reason for the species richness of trees is that broad-leaved forests develop in more favorable natural conditions than taiga. Tree species that are demanding on climate and soil can grow here, which do not tolerate the harsh conditions of the taiga regions.

A good idea of ​​the diversity of tree species of the broad-leaved forest can be obtained if you visit the well-known forest area called the Tula Zasaki (it stretches in a ribbon from west to east in the southern part of the Tula region). In the oak forests of the Tula Zasek there are such trees as pedunculate oak, small-leaved linden, two types of maple - holly and field maple, common ash, elm, elm, wild apple tree, wild pear.

For a broad-leaved forest, it is characteristic that the various tree species that make up its composition have different heights, forming, as it were, several groups in height. The tallest trees are oak and ash, the lower ones are Norway maple, elm and linden, even lower ones are field maple, wild apple and pear. However, trees, as a rule, do not form distinctly expressed tiers, well delimited from each other. Oak usually dominates, other tree species most often play the role of satellites.
Sufficiently rich in broad-leaved forest and species composition of shrubs. In the Tula notches, for example, there are hazel, two types of spindle tree - warty and European, forest honeysuckle, brittle buckthorn, wild rose and some others.
Different types of shrubs vary greatly in height. Hazel bushes, for example, often reach a height of 5 - 6 m, and honeysuckle bushes are almost always below human height.

The grass cover is usually well developed in the broad-leaved forest. Many plants have more or less large, wide leaf blades. Therefore, they are called oak broad grasses. Some of the herbs found in oak forests always grow in single specimens, never forming dense thickets. Others, on the contrary, can almost completely cover the soil over a large area. Such massive, dominant plants in the oak forests of Central Russia most often turn out to be common goutweed, hairy sedge and yellow Zelenchuk.

Broad-leaved trees have broad and flat leaves - in which the thickness is much less than the length and width, usually falling once a year. This group includes maples, beeches, ash trees, eucalyptus trees, various shrubs. In addition to classification according to the type of leaves, trees are divided according to the life of the leaves - into deciduous and evergreen. Deciduous trees have a clear change in leaf cover: all the leaves on the tree lose their green color and fall off, for some time (in winter) the tree stands without leaves, then (in spring) new leaves grow from the buds. Evergreen trees do not have a clear change in leaf cover: foliage is on the tree at any time of the year, and the change of leaves occurs gradually, throughout the life of the tree.

In areas with long, cold winters, hardwood trees shed their leaves in autumn. In the tropics, where the length of daylight hours varies slightly throughout the year, the leaves do not fall for the winter.
Shedding leaves helps save energy, as there is too little sunlight in winter for photosynthesis in the leaves. In autumn, the trees go dormant. The movement of water and nutrients through the vessels inside the trees stops, as a result, the leaves dry up and fall off. However, by this time the plant has already managed to accumulate enough nutrients to ensure bud break and the growth of new leaves in the spring. The green pigment chlorophyll is destroyed in autumn, and other pigments become clearly visible, which give the autumn leaves yellow, red and red colors.

Oak

Oak is the main forest-forming deciduous forest in Europe. In the European part of Russia, the pedunculate oak (Quergus robur) grows - one of our most durable and largest trees. Nevertheless, in plantings, with the exception of parks, this plant is quite rare, although it has no equal in a number of properties. In particular, pedunculate oak has the highest recreational tolerance and is extremely drought tolerant.

In private areas, it is used in single plantings. It tolerates moderate pruning, so you can form very beautiful tapeworms with a spherical, obovate and even tent-shaped crown.

Elm

In the forests of the non-chernozem zone, two species from the elm family naturally grow: smooth elm (Ulmus laevis) and c. rough (U. scabra). These are large trees that are part of the dominant layer of broad-leaved and coniferous-broad-leaved forests. The use of these species for landscaping in recent decades has been constrained by a widespread disease - Dutch elm disease.

common ash

Ash reaches a height of 30-40 m.
Its trunk is straight. The bark is light grey, darkening with age. The crown is very loose, openwork, transmitting a lot of light. The root system is powerful, highly branched. Ash is very demanding on the soil, but tolerates salinity better than others. This is one of the main breeds of field-protective breeding, it is photophilous, in its youth it is more shade-tolerant, heat-loving and does not tolerate spring frosts well, it grows almost throughout the European part of the Russian Federation, often mixed with other species: oak, hornbeam, maple, sometimes forms pure or almost clean plantations. Inflorescences paniculate, dense.
The flowers of these trees are usually dioecious, rarely bisexual, but sometimes there are dioecious trees. Ash-tree blossoms in May before blooming.leaves. Pollinated by the wind.
The fruits are single-seeded lionfish, collected in clusters, ripen in October-November and fall off in winter or early spring.

Forest beech (there is also oriental beech) - a tree up to 40 meters high and up to one and a half meters in diameter with light gray bark and elliptical leaves. It occupies large spaces in Western Europe, in our country it grows in the western regions of Ukraine, Belarus and in the Kaliningrad region. Eastern beech is common in the Caucasus at an altitude of 1000-1500 meters above sea level, in the Crimea - at a level of 700-1300 meters, forming a belt of beech forests.
The main value of beech is its fruits - nuts, ripening in September - October. They contain up to 28 percent fatty semi-drying oil, up to 30 percent nitrogenous substances, starch, sugars, malic and citric acids, tannins, up to 150 mg% of tocopherols and the poisonous alkaloid fagin, which decomposes when nuts are roasted, which as a result become harmless to humans. . A coffee substitute is prepared from nuts, ground nuts in the form of flour are added to ordinary flour when baking various bakery products. Beech wood is very valuable and decorative.

Maple

Various types of maples are widely distributed in broad-leaved forests. More often than others, the Norway maple, or common maple, is found here - a tree up to 20 meters tall, with gray bark and five-lobed large dark green leaves. Distributed in the European part of the country, mainly in the western and central parts, and in the Caucasus. Its leaves and shoots can be used medicinally. It has been established that the leaves contain up to 268 mg% of ascorbic acid, alkaloids and tannins. An infusion or decoction of the leaves has a diuretic, choleretic, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, analgesic effect. In folk herbal medicine, it was used for nephrolithiasis, jaundice, as an antiemetic and tonic. Crushed fresh leaves were applied to wounds to heal them.

Oak and beech, elm, maple and ash are very valuable species of trees, the wood of which is considered a high-quality building material, and the bark is used for household and medical needs.

To the south of the taiga, broad-leaved forests, which are more demanding in terms of climatic conditions, stretch in a narrow strip, the tree species of which are very diverse. Favorable conditions for the development of these massifs include: air temperature exceeding 10 C during a long summer period, annual precipitation in the range of 500-700 mm with predominant precipitation in the warm period. These conditions determine the main characteristics of the structure and development of tree species. Broad-leaved trees are covered with foliage only in the warm season; trunks and branches are protected from excessive evaporation in winter by thick bark.

For the Russian Plain, the main forest-forming species is the pedunculate oak. Other types of oaks grow in the Far East; there are no oak forests in Siberia and beyond the Urals. Well-developed crowns of broad-leaved trees do not close tightly, so the forests are characterized by a complex longline structure. High tree species include oak, elm, elm, ash, maple, linden. The next tier is occupied by smaller trees: bird cherry, wild pear and apple, mountain ash, field maple. The undergrowth growing under the trees consists of large shrubs: buckthorn, viburnum, hawthorn, bird cherry. Placed in the dense shade of trees, shrubs bloom after the trees have leafed out. So that during the flowering period, they are easily found and pollinated by insects, shrubs bloom in the most noticeable white color. Broad-leaved species are characterized by the presence of many dormant buds at the base of the trunk. A tree broken by the wind or cut down by a man sprouts from these buds and restores its crown. Thus, a less valuable forest of coppice origin appears at the cutting site.

Below the woody plants are herbaceous plants: goutweed, blueberry, Kashubian buttercup, hoof. Medicinal herbs grow in deciduous forests, there are plants listed in the Red Book.

Plants and animals of broad-leaved forests located in the European part of Russia differ from the flora and fauna of the Far Eastern forests. A feature of the natural landscape of the Far East are trees - giants: whole-leaved fir, Korean cedar, centuries-old lindens, oaks, Manchurian ash trees, ilmens. The land in dense thickets is covered with luxurious ferns. In these forests lives the Ussuri tiger, the Ussuri black bear, the Amur snake, the Ussuri relict barbel, beautiful butterflies - Maak's swallowtail. Also worth mentioning is the Chinese tortoise, which eats fish and bites painfully. All of these are the largest representatives of their species.

Ungulates, carnivores, insectivores and rodents live in the least human-modified broad-leaved forests of Russia. The forest is a refuge and habitat for roe deer, elk, deer, wild boar. The detachment of predators is a wolf, a marten, a fox, a weasel, a polecat, an ermine. Squirrels, muskrats, beavers, nutrias are rodents that are found in these ecological systems. Hedgehogs, moles, shrews, mice, snakes and lizards live in the forest. Among the rare animals protected by law is the bison. Inhabited by broad-leaved forests and a variety of birds. A large detachment of passerine birds is represented by finches, tits, starlings, swallows, and larks. Large birds live in the forest - hazel grouse, black grouse, among the birds of prey there are harrier, owl, owl, eagle owl.