Pine forest: characteristics and ecosystem. Animals and plants of the pine forest

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Many city dwellers at least once in their lives had a desire to escape from the hustle and bustle of civilization. The resort areas of Turkey or Egypt, with their impossibly fast pace of life, are clearly not suitable for a tired person. I would like to find some pacifying place where there is no electricity, the mobile phone does not work, transport and other “charms” of civilization do not flash before my eyes. A pine forest is perfect for this purpose (the photo below shows it in all its glory).

Panacea for all diseases

Most people use the pine forest only as a source of Christmas trees, without even realizing what great benefits it brings to all mankind. This is an excellent place for the prevention and treatment of diseases of the lungs and nerves. The air here is several times cleaner than in a hospital operating room. And this is explained by the fact that all trees emit a substance such as phytoncide. Deciduous plants are capable of secreting close to two kilograms of the mentioned compounds per day, and conifers - up to five. Phytoncides are especially actively formed in sunny weather. The pine forest can be called sterile, because there is practically no dust here. It settles on the resinous bark and branches, and with the rain it is washed off to the ground. By the way, during the Second World War, field hospitals were often arranged in coniferous forests. Open-air operations were carried out in pine, spruce, juniper groves, and there was not a single case of infection. Here the air is so saturated with essential oils that the wounds healed almost before our eyes. But that's not all. It turns out that coniferous forest even helps with a hangover! Clean air helps to eliminate headaches, but overdoing it is still not recommended, as oxygen saturation can occur. In everything you need to know the measure. And the pine forest is especially useful for tuberculosis patients.

Natural First Aid Kit

Here you can collect and prepare a lot of natural and environmentally friendly medicines. People have been using alcohol tinctures on the pollen of coniferous trees for centuries. Pine resin perfectly heals wounds and cracks in the skin. For rheumatism, it is recommended to use an infusion of pine buds. Young needles help in the fight against scurvy. While English and Spanish sailors lost up to 70 percent of their crew because of it, Siberian sailors did not even know about the existence of such a disease. To make a vitamin cocktail, you need to pour four glasses of fresh (preferably young) needles with water(three glasses), let it brew, and then you can already use one hundred milliliters twice a day. Pine cones are good for rehabilitating after strokes, and all thanks to the fact that they contain a large amount of tannins.

Eternal Life

If you summarize the beneficial effects of needles, wood and bark, it turns out that the pine forest is able to control cholesterol levels, prevent heart disease, increase immunity. In addition, various coniferous tinctures contribute to the normalization of metabolism and, accordingly, weight loss. Scientists have found that pine wood contains a substance such as DHA (dehydroquercetin), which is able to bind free radicals in cells. The use of DHA leads to an improvement in the condition of the skin, prolongation of its youth and overall improvement of the body. Our country is very lucky that such a large number of pine, spruce and other coniferous forests grow on its territory. After all, the extraction of dehydroquercetin from other raw materials, for example, from rose petals, grape seeds, citrus fruits, is a very expensive task. DHA today has no analogues in terms of biological activity.

Pine forest plants

The pine crown is relatively loose, openwork, as a result of which it transmits a lot of light. Therefore, in such forests there is no strong shading, which contributes to the development of a completely different plant community than in spruce and deciduous massifs. Plants of the lower tiers receive enough light for their development. However, in pine forests it is much lessmoisture, this microclimate determines the biogeocenosis of the pine forest. Depending on the type of soil, various representatives of the flora will dominate here. So, on very poor and dry sandstones, lichens spread out under the trees in carpets. On moist but poor soils, blueberry thickets are most often present. In forests located on fairly fatty soils of medium moisture (that is, with an abundant content of nutrients), oxalis grows. In pine forests, the ground is often covered with a moss carpet, against which grasses and shrubs feel good: blueberries, lingonberries, club mosses, wintergreens, and others.

Lichen Forest

The forest growing on especially poor and dry soils is very different from other pine forests. The trees here are quite low, oppressed, they rarely grow. In such a forest, there is especially a lot of light. Therefore, plants that are unusual for spruce forests and deciduous plantings are common here. For example, heather is found here - this is a low shrub that attracts attention at the end of summer with its unusually beautiful flowering. It is densely covered with very small pink-lilac flowers, and a magical, fairy-tale atmosphere is created in the forest. In dry pine forests, low grass is common - cat's paw, it has leaves with a bluish, silvery tint. It blooms in small buds-baskets of white or pink color. Also, white lichen, one of the subspecies of deer moss, develops well here.

Butter and greenfinch are eternal companionspine forest

As already mentioned, the pine forest grows mainly on poor sandy soils. This also affects the types of mushrooms that can be found in it. But their number is affected by the age of the forest. So, in young growth, starting from the second year, the first butterflies appear, they grow in the grass under separate trees or between rows. The yield of this fungus increases annually and reaches its peak in 10-15 years, then begins to decline. When the pine forest grows, greenfinch appears here. This mushroom grows in large groups, but there are also single specimens. Most often, greenfinches can be found in the lowlands - in young growth, middle-aged and adult forests.

Other mushrooms

Butter and greenfinch are the most productive, but they are not the only mushrooms in pine forests. In flat places, you can find a gray row, white mushroom and its variety (it has a yellow-brown hat and a relatively thin cylindrical leg.) In the young, autumn or real mushrooms bear fruit abundantly. They grow in families on stumps or around trunks. Also, in a young pine forest, mushrooms are found, growing in groups in wet lowlands and in clearings. In damp forests, goatlings and flywheels, marsh russula, gray-pink milkweeds have taken root. In autumn, in moderately humid groves, black pods can be found. And in the forest clearings and edges you can find a real delicacy - the mushroom Umbrella motley.

If other species of trees are present along with pines, then the diversity of mushrooms is significantlywill increase. There may appear boletus, and bruises, and russula, and Volzhanka, and black milk mushrooms, and many others.

Poisonous mushrooms

In the pine forests, pale grebes and fly agarics are very common - panther, grebe and red. Around dried trees, on stumps, poisonous gray-yellow false honey mushrooms grow in large groups. Talkers are scattered in large quantities in the pine forests overgrown with grass. Among them there are both edible and poisonous species.

Animal world

The largest inhabitants of the pine forest are artiodactyls (wild boars, elk, deer). The most common are deer - very beautiful and relatively trusting animals. They may differ depending on the place of residence in body size, as well as the structure of the horns. The next representatives of the fauna are bears. These animals are the most famous forest inhabitants, not without reason they are called the symbol of the forest. There are many legends and fairy tales about them. However, today, due to intensive hunting for them, clubfoot has become quite rare. This king of the forest can only feel safe in protected areas. We have listed only the most prominent inhabitants, but not all. Ask a child who lives in the forest, and he will name you a fox, a wolf, a hare, and of course a hedgehog. All these are animals of the pine forest. Of the most famous birds, the magpie and, of course, the capercaillie should be mentioned, but there are also others, and quite a lot. The most important thing is to take the time to learn more about them. Well, it’s best to go to the pine forest yourself, breatheclean and he althy air and just relax in peace and quiet. It should be remembered that the forest is not only a home for animals, but also the lungs of our planet. And for a knowledgeable person, he will become a friend, assistant, pantry and pharmacy.

Take care of the forest!