This year’s conference was dedicated to the memory of two professors – founder of the forest phytopathology science school in Belarus Nikolai Fyodorov and a renowned Karelian researcher of forest regeneration and mycology, Merited Scientist of Russia Vladimir Shubin. Senior Researcher of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) KarRC RAS Olga Predtechenskaya made a presentation devoted to his centennial anniversary at the plenary session.
Vladimir Shubin’s life facts were related at the plenary session by mycologist Olga Predtechenskaya
For over 20 years, Vladimir Shubin headed one of the leading laboratories at FRI KarRC RAS – the Forest Regeneration and Protection Laboratory. Its main research focus was substantiating and developing the practices and technology of artificial reforestation. To address the problem of forest restoration upon logging, scientists surveyed forest crops in extensive cut-over areas and established lots of test plots in the grounds of logging companies of Karelia and the Murmansk Region. The key outcomes of this work have been summarized in multiple editions, which have turned into go-to books for several generations of academics and forestry workers.
– Vladimir Ivanovich did proclaim that his main research field was forest regeneration while studying fungi was more of a hobby in his opinion. In reality, this was not quite true. He spent a lot of time studying the mycorrhiza – an association of fungi and tree roots, the ecology of mycorrizal mushrooms, most of which are edible, their relationships with woody species, and ways to make use of the benefits of mycosymbiotrophy when planting forest crops, – shared Olga Predtechenskaya, mycologist, student of Vladimir Shubin, adding that the scholar produced a total of over 260 academic papers and defended a post-doc dissertation.
On the left in the first photo – Senior Researcher of the Forest Research Institute KarRC RAS Olga Predtechenskaya; in the center in the second photo – Senior Research at FRI KarRC RAS Anna Ruokolainen
A presentation at the conference was made also by Senior Researcher of FRI KarRC RAS Anna Ruokolainen. She talked about the results of studies of fungal diversity in forests of the planned Lake Nyuk protected area (PA). The size of the PA excluding lake water area is some 255 sq.km, of which around 70% are relatively intact communities. Most of this woodland is assigned to the protective forest category, performing essential environment protection and engineering functions.
The planned PA was found to harbor 183 species of agaricoid and aphyllophoroid fungi. The former are the stipe-and-cap mushrooms we’re so familiar with, while the latter are mainly wood-attacking bracket fungi. The fungal species diversity is the highest in habitats with a range of tree-stand dominants: pine, spruce, aspen, birch, willow. The abundance of dead fallen trunks at different degrees of decay generates a favorable environment for many fungal species.
Senior Researcher of FRI KarRC RAS Anna Ruoiolainen delivers her talk
The findings of indicator-, specialized-, and red-listed species substantiate the value of the forests and the need to conserve them. The area contains six species listed in the Red Data Book of Karelia (2020) with status 3 VU (vulnerable): Anthoporia albobrunnea, Diplomitoporus crustulinus, Flavidoporia mellita, Sidera lenis, Skeletocutis sajanensis, Skeletocutis stellae. Two species (Gloeophyllum protractum and Rhodonia placenta) have the status 3 NT (near-threatened), and one – Resinoporia crassa, is assigned to class 2 EN (endangered).
“Conserving forests in the planned PA is crucial for maintaining the species diversity of the fungal biota as well as the flora and fauna of the Republic of Karelia and Northwest Russia in general”, – concluded the scientists.
Lichenologist Margarita Fadeeva presented the results of a first survey of lichens in the Nature Monument Sundozersky Section, Kondopoga District, Karelia. Scientists argue that despite its geological specialization, this area is also valuable for the conservation of lichens.
Presentation about lichens of the Sundozero Section made by Chief Biologist of the Laboratory for Forest Ecosystem Landscape Ecology and Protection, FRI KarRC RAS Margarita Fadeeva
The surveys were carried out in 2022–2024. The findings include 163 lichen taxa, which almost 40% of the total lichen biota the Kivach Nature Reserve, in whose buffer zone the Sundozero Section is situated. Meanwhile, this nature monument is only 37 ha in area, nearly three hundred times smaller than the nature reserve, and lichens of the Sundozero Section have only been studied during three field seasons versus nearly a century and a half for the Kivach Nature Reserve. One of the species found in the nature monument – Multiclavula mucida – has never been reported for the Nature Reserve.
Scientists note some forests of biological value in the nature monument, which are important for biodiversity conservation. E.g., old wet spruce stands mixed with aspen harbor the nationally and regionally red-listed Lobaria pulmonaria and the regionally red-listed Psilolechia clavulifera. Old pine stands with spruce and dolomite outcrops feature the regionally red-listed Peltigera elisabethae, which deserves special attention. This species is rare in Karelia and in European Russia. There are only two known locations in our republic where it grows. In one of them – the precipitous Ruskeakallio cliffs in the Paanajarvi National Park – the species is known only by an old record from 1937 and has not been encountered since then. In the Kivach Nature Reserve, Peltigera elisabethae was first found in 1969. By now, the species’ record for the nature reserve and its buffer zone includes around a dozen localities.
“The small nature monument Sundozero Section was found to harbor lichen species that are red-listed and subject to biological surveillance. Also well represented there is the complex of specialized and indicator species of forest habitats with long ecological continuity. Surveys revealed a total of 14 localities with six red-listed species, 5 localities with four species subject to biological surveillance, and 35 localities with 8 specialist and indicator species of forests of biological value”, – reads the paper by Margarita Fadeeva and Aleksey Kravchenko published in the conference proceedings.
Group from Forest Research Institute KarRC RAS at the conference in Minsk
The venue for the extra-mural day of the conference was the Negorelsky Training and Experimental Forestry District. The participants visited the research station for monitoring the ash dieback process. Scientists got familiarized with a technique of long-term phytopathology observations, symptoms and signs of the development of the invasive phytopathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. In the district’s central base, specialists were shown around the facilities of BSTU for practice-oriented training of top-qualified personnel, the university’s learning and teaching building, the nature museum, and the botanical garden.
The events commemorating the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Shubin will continue in Petrozavodsk on October 29, on his birthday. A memorial plaque on the house where he lived will be opened, the Forest Research Institute’s Learned Council will meet, and public mycology lectures will be given at KarRC RAS Environmental Research Museum.
Photos by BSTU Media Office and from archives of employees of the Forest Research Institute KarRC RAS
