Forest dieback in Russia: Causes, distribution and implications for the future

Conference · Thu Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1994 · World Resource Review; (United States)

OSTI ID:6575745

Krankina, O N ^[1]; Dixon, R K ^[2]; Shvidenko, A Z ^[3]; Selikhovkin, A V ^[4]

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1. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). Dept. of Forest Science
2. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR (United States). Environmental Research Lab.
3. International Inst. of Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg (Austria)
4. St. Petersburg Forest Academy (Russian Federation)

The Russian Federation with its great expanse of forest land plays a prominent role in the global environment. Over 20% of the world's forest resources and about one-half of boreal forest are located on Russian territory. Forest dieback following natural or anthropogenic disturbance is a significant factor in boreal forest dynamics. The leading causes of dieback are forest fires and adverse weather conditions. Although natural disturbance accounts for the greater part of dieback, anthropogenic factors are significant in increasing susceptibility of forests to stress natural agents. In industrially developed regions air pollution, harvesting, major constructions, and mining are directly responsible for forest dieback. Since factors of forest dieback are closely interrelated a single cause of dieback is often impossible to establish. In 1991 the largest proportion of forest dieback occurred in the southern part of Europe-Urals and West Siberia as well as in the Far East. Data on forest dieback is available only for monitored forest, which constitutes 60% of the total forest land in Russia, so, these values should be regarded as fairly conservative. Decline of forests is estimated to affect additionally about 2 [times] 10[sup 6] ha per year. Projected global climate change is likely to dramatically increase forest decline and dieback.

• OSTI ID: 6575745
• Report Number(s): CONF-940422--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: World Resource Review; (United States) Journal Volume: 6:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540210* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
AIR POLLUTION
ASIA
CLIMATIC CHANGE
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EUROPE
FORESTS
POLLUTION
POPULATION DYNAMICS
USSR