Spruce forest is a classic setting for many folk tales. In it you can meet Baba Yaga and Little Red Riding Hood. A lot of animals live in such a forest, it is mossy and always green. But spruce is not only an element of a fairy tale and the New Year, this tree grows rapidly and is of great importance for the country's economy and representatives of wildlife.
Meaning
Spruce forest is the abode of birds and animals, insects and bacteria. For a person, this is an opportunity to have a great time and relax, pick berries and mushrooms, medicinal herbs. And for industry, wood is about 30% of the volume of all wood, from which not only furniture is made, but also ethyl alcohol, charcoal.
Features
The spruce forest is always shaded, but that doesn't stop the trees from growing well. The crown of the fir trees is characterized by a single layer, which allows each branch to break through to the light.
Berries, mushrooms and moss are an integral part of forests. Spruce prefers moist soil, groundwater, hard to tolerate drought. If the soil is fertile, then spruce forests, which are not only of natural origin, can displace pines. Often they are created artificially, as they grow much faster than deciduous trees, therefore they are of great value to the country's economy.
Spruce blossom
Female representatives of spruces form small cones, which then decorate the trees. Males have elongated catkins on their branches, with pollen scattered by the tree in May. The full ripening of the cone occurs in October, then the squirrels begin to stock up on food for the winter.
Views
There are five main forest groups of spruce trees:
- green moss;
- long-term workers;
- difficult;
- sphagnum;
- marsh-grass.
The group of green moss spruce forests includes three types of forest:
- Spruce forest. The soil in such forests is sandy and loamy, well drained. The soil is fertile due to the ground cover of oxalis and minnik, which grow only in spruce forests. Groups of oxalis spruce forests are found mainly on uplands.
- Spruce blueberry grows most often in the plains. The soil is less fertile and more humid, blueberries and green moss are the most comfortable here.
- Spruce lingonberry grows on the hills. The soil is not very fertile, mostly sandy and dry sandy loamy. Despite the low productivity of the soil, there are many lingonberries in such forests.
This forest groupof spruce trees holds the entire occupied area and quickly resumes.
Long-livers are more common in the northern regions of our country. The soil is predominantly with excessive moisture, and the composition of the forest, in addition to conifers, includes birches. Forest productivity is low. It is worth noting the presence of blueberries, horsetail and cuckoo flax.
Complex spruce forest consists of several subspecies:
- Lime. In addition to spruce, linden, aspen, birch and sometimes fir are found in the forests. The land here is quite fertile and drained. The ground cover is represented by a huge variety of grass species.
- Oak spruce forest. It is considered one of the most highly productive types of forests. The forest includes oaks, maple, pine, aspen. The undergrowth mainly consists of warty euonymus, the ground cover is characterized by a variety of herbs.
Sphagnum spruce forest most often appears as a result of swamping of the weevil spruce forest. It is characterized by liquid peaty soil. There is no undergrowth in such forests, if it occurs, it consists of white alder and black currant. The above ground layer is represented by sphagnum and cuckoo flax.
Marsh-herbaceous spruce forest is found near streams and rivers. Differs in high productivity and dense undergrowth from bushes. There are many moss and grasses in such forests.
Geography
Spruce forest is widespread in almost all climatic zones of the globe. These trees are found mainly in the taiga, common in Northern Eurasiaand North America, closer to the North Pole they smoothly turn into the tundra, and closer to the southern latitudes they are found in a mixed forest. In tropical climates, conifers grow exclusively in mountainous areas.
In our country, the Urals, Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories are covered with spruce forests. In the Komi Republic, these trees cover about 34% of the entire territory. In Altai and in the West Siberian part, spruce is mixed with fir. Western Siberia is represented by complex forests. In the Yenisei part of the taiga, spruce grows together with cedars. Dark spruce forest is found in central Russia and Primorye, as well as the Carpathians and the Caucasus.
Flora
Due to the great shading in the forests, the flora is not very diverse and is represented by the following types of herbs and shrubs:
- sour;
- minik;
- wintergreen;
- moss;
- blueberries;
- lingonberries;
- meadowsweet;
- dropsy shrub;
- cuckoo flax;
- cat paw.
They grow well in dimly lit places. Herbaceous plants of the spruce forest are those representatives of the plant world that reproduce vegetatively, that is, through tendrils or roots. Their blooms are usually white or pale pink. This coloration allows plants to "stand out" and become visible to pollinating insects.
Mushrooms
What forest can be without mushrooms? Due to the fact that undergrowth is rarely found in spruce forests, and the needles themselves rot for a long time, the main harvest of mushrooms occurs in autumn. If we are talking about the young, where they atestill low, their number and variety is amazing. Most of the mushrooms are found in spruce forests with sparse plantings or in strips of mixed types. That is, where there is enough light for the rapid growth of mushrooms.
White is the most common edible. This mushroom is dense and fleshy, practically unaffected by worms and larvae. It can grow both in a dense spruce forest and on the edges.
If there are aspens and birches in the forest, then you can collect boletus and boletus. There are always a lot of camelinas in spruce forests, which grow mainly in groups on the outskirts of the forest. Under the trees themselves there are larger specimens with a yellowish hat.
In the spruce forests there are always a lot of russula, which seem to imitate their "big" neighbors in the forest: the hats of these mushrooms have a blue or lilac tint. Russula grow in large groups, have a pleasant taste and aroma. In the wettest places of the forest, near water bodies, you can find yellow milk mushrooms.
There are many inedible mushrooms in pine and spruce forests. These are fly agarics, cobwebs, reddish talkers and a thin pig.
The poorest spruce forests for mushrooms are the same type and old plantings. Most mushrooms are in mixed forests, where there are swamps, small ponds. A good harvest can be harvested in the mountain plantings of the middle and lower belt.
Animals and insects
Despite the modest species diversity of spruce forest plants, there are a huge number of ants, worms, shrews and rodents in old stumps. These are voles, common and dark,shrews.
Depending on the yield of spruces, the population of squirrels also changes. In winter and spring, hares and moose are found here. In pursuit of prey, wolves wander into spruce forests. In the spruce forest, they can create a breeding den.
A large number of rodents attract ermines and martens to the spruce forest. Also in the deep thickets you can encounter a bear, a flying squirrel or a lynx.
At the same time, the distribution of animals throughout the forest is uneven. Most of the fauna live where spruce grows less densely, where there is undergrowth and a relatively high degree of illumination.
Feathers
There are a lot of birds in spruce forests. In some forests, nesting reaches 350 pairs per 1 square kilometer. Grouse and capercaillie, partridges and black grouse love to settle in green moss. Cuckoos, Muscovites and Wrens will become rather rare here. Where the forest is dense, powdery and finches, robins settle. Ratchet nests, forest horse and warblers are equipped on the ground. There are many jays, woodpeckers, pigeons and willows in sparse and mixed forests.
Reptiles and amphibians
From the reptiles in spruce forests there are vipers and lizards. You can find these inhabitants in sunny clearings, where grass and shrubs are low.
Newts are found in puddles and on the outskirts of roads. The common frog also likes high humidity and shady fir trees.
