Eucalyptus forest - a forest in which the main forest-forming species are various species of eucalyptus . Eucalyptus trees have vertically arranged leaves, so the light penetrating under the forest canopy is enough to form a grass and shrub layer . In eucalyptus forests with trees of different ages, rarely growing large trees prevail at an average level, undergrowth is located in separate groups. The soil cover is dominated by the remains of the bark and dry leaves discharged from large trees [1] [2] . The overgrowth capacity of eucalyptus forests is extremely high; replacement with other tree species almost never occurs, even after large forest fires . Spruce stands, as a rule, grow faster than seed ones, but they are not so long-lived, although in some places after more than a hundred years of operation with cutting turnover of only 9 - 25 years, they still have the ability to shoot overgrowth [2] .
Content
Distribution
The natural endemic range of eucalyptus forests is Australia and its adjacent islands, part of the islands of the Malay archipelago, their total area is about 8 million hectares. All eucalyptus forests of natural origin grow in the southern hemisphere. Man markedly increased the spread of eucalyptus, creating eucalyptus forests in many warm, mild winters and wet and dry regions, including: China , Vietnam , India , the Near and Middle East , Madagascar, Italy , Spain , Portugal , Africa ( Libya , Algeria , South Africa ), USA , Brazil . There was an attempt to plant eucalyptus forests along the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus , but the bulk of them died, and only small groves and groups of trees were preserved. The total area of artificially created eucalyptus forests is over 7 million ha [2] .
Australia Eucalyptus Forests
In the forests of Australia and on the islands adjacent to it, up to 600 species of eucalyptus grows. The height of the trees and the fullness of the stand decrease with increasing aridity of the climate , in accordance with this they belong to different groups.
Tropical tropical and subtropical eucalyptus forests, where the amount of precipitation exceeds 1250 mm per year, have the most diverse tropical woody vegetation. In the southwest, stands of variegated eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus diversicolor ) are widespread — light forests with an average tree height of 60–75 m [1] [2] .
The seasonal evergreen eucalyptus forests of Australia are characterized by the dying of grass during the dry season [3] .
Sclerophilic eucalyptus forests are rare-standing light stands from eucalyptus of hard-leaved deciduous species. The undergrowth is formed by acacias and casuarins .
Savannah eucalyptus forests are formed by stunted or shrub species of eucalyptus with small hard leaves.
Eucalyptus forests of the temperate zone are mostly rare, light, formed by one or more species of eucalyptus.
Mountain eucalyptus forests are tall trees up to 100 m and higher. In the subalpine and alpine zones, undersized thickets of fairly frost-resistant species of eucalyptus grow [2] .
Low-growing shrub eucalyptus savannahs (“malli”) grow in arid regions [1] .
Economic value
The economic importance of eucalyptus forests is extremely high, their main value is wood . At the age of 5-10 years, eucalyptus forests have an annual average growth of wood up to 20 m³ per 1 ha and an annual average growth of a shoot stem up to 2 m high. Wood stock in 100-year-old stands 200–300 m³ / ha - 400–600 m³ / ha. Eucalyptus forests grow so fast that tree stands can be felled every 4-10 years. In addition to wood, eucalyptus forests serve as a source of ether-bearing, tannin-bearing, medicinal, tannic and forest chemical raw materials; leaves, shoots , and bark are also used. Eucalyptus forests quickly create protective stripes. They are used to drain heavily flooded and swampy lands, the root system of eucalyptus loosens the soil, increases their permeability, contributing to the rapid absorption of water [2] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Eucalyptus forests // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 EUCALYPTIC FORESTS. Forest Encyclopedia / Ch. Editor G.I. Vorobyov. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1986. - T. 2. - 631 p. - 100,000 copies.
- ↑ Savannah // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.