CENTRE ON THE PROBLEMS OF ECOLOGY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF FORESTS

RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

G.E. Komin. В.Р. Kolesnikov is a Founder of the Theory of Forest-Forming Process // Forest Science (Lesovedenie). 2009. No 5. P. 3-9 (in Russian).

B.P. Kolesnikov stated that the current genetic classification of forest types should reflect the level of knowledge about the forest-forming process and promote the development of its general theory. According to Kolesnikov, forest-forming process is a variety of phenomena characterizing the origin, development, destruction, and succession of forest phytocenoses that accompany the evolution of the forest cover on the Earth. Three kinds of forest successions are characterized: A. Changes in the forest state or rhythmic (reversible) ones; B. Ontogenetic changes of stand types; C. Evolutionary changes of forest types. According to the degree of human impact on forest vegetation, three forest-forming ages are distinguished: (a) primeval forests, pre-agricultural development of lands; (b) natural disorganized utilization of forests by human, and (c) purposeful (industrial) use of forest resources and intense transformation of the forest cover. The following categories of the forest state correspond to these ages: A. Virgin forests; B. Primeval forests; and C. Recent forests. All the categories mentioned are the basis for the general theory of forest-forming process.

Forest forming factors, forest cover dynamics, virgin, primeval and recent forests

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