Distribution of Acer negundo L. in Altai Krai (Russia, Southern Siberia) and its coenotic role in pine forests

Abstract

The article provides data on the distribution of the invasive boxelder maple in the Altai Krai.  The article specifically considers its coenotic role in pine forests by the example of the Barnaul ribbon pine forest. A GIS project was developed to assess the distribution of boxelder maple in Altai krai. Mapping was based on the species location data obtained from the herbarium material (more than 500 sheets of the herbarium) deposited to the Altai State University (ALTB), the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Plant Research Institute (WIR) and the V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LE). To map the boxelder maple distribution, an analysis of the forest stand maps of the Barnaul ribbon pine forest was also carried out (2010, 2018). For each maple location, the stratum, the stratum area, and the stand formula are taken into account. Over the ten-year observation period, the area of maple and mixed forests with the participation of Acer negundo has increased almost 6 times here. Monodominant maple forests and mixed forests with the participation of boxelder maple as well as with other invasive species are formed. This leads to a considerable anthropogenic transformation of pine forests and a decrease in their environment-forming, social-economic and ecological significance. The study reveals that generative plants were not found in every coenopopulation. If the plants reached the reproductive stage, then, on the whole, males prevailed fivefold in the coenopopulation. Most of the studied coenopopulations consisted of pre-generative individuals, with the exception of occasional young generative ones. Most of the trees in the studied populations reached the age of 10–15 years. For forest communities of the Barnaul forestry, two age periods of the ontogenetic state have been established – pre-generative and generative, which indicates a relatively early age of the phytoinvasion and its active stage.