Title
North and east European pine forests (Pinus sylvestris) with Picea abies, Picea obovata, dwarf shrubs, mosses and lichens, alternating with pine forests on half-bog soils with Betula pubescens and with mires
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Finland: in the south between Turku and Helsinki, Carelia; Esthonia, Latvia, Lithuania; Russia: insular scattered from south Carelia and the border to Belarus as far as to the Ural foreland
area frequency
163 polygons.
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
see D45, D47, S18/19 S20.
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
Relief and site determined regular alternation between dwarf shrub-moss and lichen-rich-pine forests, lichen and moss-rich spruce-pine forests as well as waterlogged pine forests with different types of mires, particularly dwarf shrub-rich raised wooded bogs (Sphagnum angustifolium, Sphagnum fuscum) with pine and transitional mires.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Pinus sylvestris, with admixture of Picea abies, Picea obovata, Betula pubescens
Shrub layer
scattered Juniperus communis, Sorbus aucuparia
Herb layer
Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Vaccinium myrtillus, Vaccinium uliginosum, Ledum palustre, Chamaedaphne calyculata, Eriophorum vaginatum, Equisetum sylvaticum, Molinia caerulea
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
Cladina spp., Dicranum polysetum, Pleurozium schreberi, Hylocomium splendens, Sphagnum angustifolium, Sphagnum russowii, Sphagnum magellanicum, Polytrichum commune
Diagnostically important species
Pinus sylvestris
Ecological variants
see under the point 'stand structure'
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
in the west with Picea abies, Molinia caerulea, in the east with Picea obovata.
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
small area incidences of alder carrs, mires.
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
spruce forests (D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D9, D10, D12, D20), pine forests (D44, D45, D47, D49, D55, D56), raised bogs (S2, S3), tree-rich raised bogs (S12), aapa mires (S15), transition bogs (S18/19, S20), brown mires (S23), alder carrs (T1), birch carrs (T4), moist and alluvial forests (U2, U3, U5, U10).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Pine and rarely larch plantations; drained pine and birch bogs with Polytrichum strictum.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Clear felling with Calamagrostis arundinacea, Epilobium angustifolium.
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
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settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
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Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
weakly undulating to hilly plains with moist to wet hollows
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
Geology (bedrock)
glacial, fluviatile and fluvioglacial sediments (Pleistocene above Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
podzole, gley-podzole, peaty soil-gleys, peat soils; (orthic and gleyic podzols; dystric gleysols; dystric histosols; dystric podzoluvisols)
soil texture
sandy, loamy-sandy
soil moisture, water balance
moderately dry to wet
soil reaction
strongly acidic
soil fertility
oligotrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI(VIII), VIII(VI), VIII(VI)2
average annual temperature
1-6 °C
average annual precipitation
600-750 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
20-24 °C
average temperature of the coldest month
-12 to -3 °C
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
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Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
Severely afflicted by clear felling and forest fires.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
No details
causes of endangerment
Forest clearing, fires, peat extraction, drainage of bogs.
required measures for protection and restitution
No details
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Russia: Zapovednik Kivač, Nižnesvirskij, Darvinskij, Central’no-Lesnoj, Okskij.
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
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Most important references (author, year)
Gribova, Isačenko & Lavrenko (Red.) 1980; Sokolov & Syroečkovskij (Ed.) 1988
Compiled by
Z. Neuhäuslová based on documents by T.K. Jurkovskaja
