Ukrainian Journal of Forest and Wood Science

The important role of forests in stabilizing natural environmental conditions has been noted. The dynamics of the main mensurational indices of forest stands of Polissya Natural Reserve during 18-year period (1998-2016) is analyzed. It is noted that the main role in formation of forest cover of Polissya NR is played by pine (85.8%), birch (13.3%) and alder (0.9%) stands. Oak plantations make up a minor part (0.03%) in forest fund of the nature reserve. When analyzing distribution of tree species within their groups it was found that share of pine in coniferous management section is 100% and it does not change over 18 years. Oak forms an insignificant part in growing stock of Polissya Natural Reserve and is the only representative in the group of hardwood broadleaves. The dominant place in the group of softwood broadleaves is occupied by Silver birch. In this group, there are practically no mature and overmature forest stands. There is a small proportion of young and immature stands. Moreover, the proportion of young stands over the 18-year period has decreased three times. The average growing stock is gradually increasing, which indicates that forests at the enterprise are being managed rationally, which makes it possible to increase organic mass and thus increase ecological sustainability of forests and ensure their main function – natural environment regulator. Site index classes for all groups of species have practically remained unchanged during the research period and are currently equal to II.7 for conifers, III.0 for hardwood broadleaves and II.5 for softwood broadleaves. It has been found that forest stands of Polissya Nature Reserve are average in terms of their productivity, but there are noticeable positive tendencies in dynamics of their mensurational indices, which helps stabilizing ecological situation.

Polissya Nature Reserve, forests, productivity, mensurational indices, dynamics