Spread of wound canker of spruce in the northern taiga forests of the European part of Russia

   The patterns of spread of spruce wound canker development including the spatial dynamics of the number and size of wounds on the tree, the proportion of damaged trees and trees with overgrown (or healing) wounds were studied. The data were collected in taiga spruce forests in 2022–2023 in five groups of sample plots located in five remote areas of the Leningrad Region, the Republic of Karelia and the Murmansk Region (N59°–67°). It was found that in the study area, spruce canker, despite its widespread distribution and high occurrence, does not lead to a critical deterioration in the condition of tree stands. The differences between the groups of deadwood condition categories (5,6) in the number of observed ulcers are statistically insignificant. There is a trend of decreasing ulcer sizes from south to north, which may indicate the influence of climatic factors on the pathogen activity. According to the sizes of canker wounds, single samples differ from the rest between the groups of samples by stand density and age category, but there are no consistently directed differences. For example, the sizes of canker wounds do not have reliable differences between most categories of forest types, however, in wet blueberry forests, the registered wounds are statistically smaller than in fresh blueberry forests. Such differences may indicate the presence of unaccounted factors or the specificity of the sample. For further study of the factors of formation, development and spatial-typological spread of wounded canker, it is necessary to modify the methodology for accounting for pathogen manifestations due to the presumed influence of other environmental factors not taken into account in this work.

1. Alekseev A.S. Assessment and Inventory of Forest Ecosystems Biodiversity: Case Study for Karelian Isthmus of Leningrad Region, Russia. Open Journal of Ecology, 2018, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 305–323. DOI: 10.4236/oje.2018.85019.

2. Burneviča N., Jansons Ā., Zaļuma A., Kļaviņa D., Jansons J., Gaitnieks T. Fungi Inhabiting Bark Stripping Wounds Made by Large Game on Stems of Picea abies (L.) Karst. in Latvia. Baltic Forestry, 2016, vol. 221, no. 1, pp. 2–7.

3. Fedorov N.I., Budko A.V. Phytopathological condition of spruce plantations of Negorelsky educational and experimental forestry enterprise. Proceedings of BSTU. Series I. Forestry, 2007, iss. XV, pp. 395–398. (In Russ.)

4. Fedorov N.I., Budko A.V. Spread of ulcerative cancer in spruce forests of Belarus. Proceedings of BSTU. Series I. Forestry, 2008, iss. XVI, pp. 379–382. (In Russ.)

5. Fedorov I.Yu., Yakovlev A.A. The Impact of Spruce Canker Disease on the Condition Category of Trees in the Educational and Experimental Forestry of the Leningrad Region. Forests of Russia: Policy, Industry, Science, Education : mater. of the V All-Russ. sci-tech. conf.-Webinar. St. Petersburg, 2020, pp. 263–265. (In Russ.)

6. Korzova E.A. The phenomenon of death of spruce forests in the territory of the Vyisky forestry of the Arkhangelsk region. Almanac of scientific works of young scientists of the ITMO University: the Fiftieth sci. educ.-method. conf. / ed. by I.V. Baranov St. Petersburg, 2021, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 181–184. (In Russ.)

7. Lyubomirsky. Drying out of spruce stands. Lesnoy Zhurnal (Russian Forestry Journal), 1882, iss. 10, pp. 623–625. (In Russ.)

8. Maslov A.D. Drying out of spruce forests from droughts in the European territory of the USSR. Lesovedenie, 1972, no. 6, pp. 77–87. (In Russ.)

9. Methodology for organizing and conducting work on monitoring forests in the European part of Russia under the ICP-Forest program (UNECE methodology): Federal Forestry Service of Russia, Instructions dated February 21, 1995. (In Russ.)

10. Pettersson M., Talgø V., Frampton J., Karlsson B., Rönnberg J. Pathogenicity of Neonectria fuckeliana on Norway Spruce Clones in Sweden and Potential Management Strategies. Forests, 2018, vol. 9, no. 105, pp. 1–17. DOI: 10.3390/f9030105.

11. Pohlert T. The pairwise multiple comparison of mean ranks: package (PMCMR). R Package. 2014. 9 p.

12. R Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. 2021. Available at: https://www.R-project.org/

13. Selikhovkin A.V., Akhmatovich N.A., Varentsova E.Yu., Popovichev B.G. Regeneration of European Spruce Bark Beetle and Other Wood Pathogens in forests of the Karelian Isthmus. Russian Journal of Forest Science (Lesovedenie), 2018, no. 6, pp. 426–433. (In Russ.)

14. Selikhovkin A.V., Mamaev N.A., Martirova M.B., Merkuriev S.A., Popovichev B.G. A New Outbreak of the European Spruce Bark Beetle, Ips typographus (L.) (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) in Leningrad Province. Entomological Review, 2022, vol. 102, no. 3, pp. 1–11. (In Russ.)

15. Selikhovkin A.V., Popovichev B.G., Mandelshtam M. Yu., Alekseyev A.S. The Role of the Stem Pests in Changing the Condition of Coniferous Forests of the North-West of the European Part of Russia. Russian Journal of Forest Science (Lesovedenie), 2023, no. 3, pp. 304–321. DOI: 10.31857/S0024114823020080 (In Russ.)

16. Shabunin D.A. Varentsova E.Yu., Popovichev B.G., Selikhovkin A.V. New data on the species composition of canker fungi on spruce trunks. Izvestia Sankt-Peterburgskoj Lesotehniceskoj Akademii, 2023, no. 244, pp. 118–130. DOI: 10.21266/2079-4304.2023.244.118–130. (In Russ.)

17. Shabunin D.A., Varentsova E.Yu., Popovichev B.G., Selikhovkin A.V. New Data on Fungal Species Composition in Spruce Trunk Canker. Doklady Biological Sciences, 2024, vol. 519, pp. 350–355. DOI: 10.1134/S0012496624701229.

18. Shchedrova V.I. Diseases of coniferous species. Ulcerative cancer of larch, pine and spruce. Leningrad: LTA, 1979. 32 p. (In Russ.)

19. Varentsova E.Yu., Mamaev N.A., Martirova M.B. Phytopathological condition of pine and spruce in forest stands of the Leningrad region. Izvestia Sankt-Peterburgskoj Lesotehniceskoj Akademii, 2023, iss. 244, pp. 131–149. DOI: 10.21266/2079-4304.2023.244.131-149. (In Russ.)

20. Varentsova E.Yu., Sedikhin N.V., Selikhovkin A.V. Spruce wound canker and its development features. Forests of Russia: policy, industry, science, education : mater. of the second int. sci.-tech. conf. / ed. by V.M. Gedyo. St. Petersburg, 2017, vol. 2, pp. 115–117. (In Russ.)

21. Vasiliauskas R. Damages to stand, resulting from shelterwood and selective cuttings. Soil, Tree, Machine Interactions / ed. by P.F.J. Abeels, D. Mathies & I.Wästerlund. Economic 11 Commission for Europe, FAO, ILO, IUFRO, Joint Committee on Forest Technology, Management and Training, 1994a. 6 p.

22. Vasiliauskas R. Spread of decay fungi from stem wounds into roots of Norway spruce. Proceedings of the 8^th Int. Conf. on Root and Butt Rots / ed. by M. Johansson & J. Stenlid. Uppsala, 1994b, pp. 213–217.

23. Vasiliauskas R. Ecology of fungi colonizing wounds of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), with special emphasis on Stereum sanguinolentum (Alb. &Schw.: Fr.) Fr. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae. Silvestria, 1998, no. 79, 59 pp.

24. Vasiliauskas R., Stenlid J. Biology and structure of fungal populations that colonise wounds of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). Gribnye Soobschestva Lesnykh Ekosistem (Fungal Communities in Forest Ecosystems) Moscow-Petrozavodsk, 2000, pp. 76–133. (In Russ.)

25. Yakovlev A.A., Fedorov I.Yu. The influence of canker cancer of spruce on radial growth. Current issues in forestry: mater. of the III Int. sci.-pract. conf. of young scientists. St. Petersburg, 2019, pp. 102–104. (In Russ.)

26. Zhigunov A.V., Semakova T.A., Shabunin D.A. Mass drying of forests in the northwest of Russia. Forest biological research in the northwest of the taiga zone of Russia: results and prospects : mater. of the sci. conf. dedicated to the 50^th anniversary of the Forest Institute of the Karelian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Petrozavodsk, 2007, pp. 42–52. (In Russ.)

27. Zudilin V.A. Ulcer cancer of spruce trunks in the educational and experimental forestry enterprise BGITA and its harmfulness. Actual problems of the forest complex, 2008, no. 1, pp. 100–101. (In Russ.)