Abstract
The subalpine vegetation structure of Mt. Vysokaya, the Central Sikhote-Alin, is described. This vegetation consists mainly of subalpine spruce-fir forest, a complex of subalpine meadows, shrubs, groves of Betula lanata (B. ermanii s.l.), krummholz of Pinus pumila and alpine tundras. Significant disturbances in the vegetation structure were noted, especially in the forest-tundra ecotone accompanying a sharp reduction of the belts of Betula lanata and Pinus pumila. The altitudinal level of the upper timberline reaches 1600 m a.s.l. which is 250 m less than the expected altitude calculated by Kira's warmth index. An undergrowth of scattered trees of Picea and Betula are growing up to the mountain top. Based on these data and a review of the literature, we concluded that a catastrophic lowering of the timberline and devastation of the subalpine vegetation belt occurred several centuries ago, probably as result of fires.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arnborg T. 1960. Can we find a common platform for the different schools of forest type classification? Silva Fenn. 105: 13–15.
Beaman J. H. 1962. The timberlines of Lstaccihuatl and Popocatepetl, Mexico. Ecology 43: 377–385.
Cajander A. K. 1926. The theory of forest types. Acta For. Fenn. 29: 1–108.
Cherepanov S. K. 1981. Vascular Plants of the USSR. Nauka, Moscow, Leningrad (in Russian).
Curtis J. T. 1959. The vegetation of Wisconsin: An Ordination of Plant Communities. Univ. Wisconsin, Madison.
Geological Map of Primorsky Kray. 1986. Scale 1:1000000. Leningrad (in Russian).
Grishin S. Yu. 1988a. The upper timberline at Kluchevskoy volcano group (Kamchatka). Pp. 193–201. In: Kharkevich S. S. (ed.), Plant cover of high mountain ecosystems of the USSR. Far East Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok (in Russian).
Grishin S. Yu. 1988b. The structure of timberline ecotone vegetation on Dalnaya Ploskaya volcano (Kamchatka). Komarovskie Chtenia 35: 159–175 (in Russian).
Grishin S. Yu. 1995. The boreal forests of the north-eastern Eurasia. Vegetatio 121: 11–21.
Heimburger C. C. 1934. Forest-type studies in the Adirondack region. Mem. Cornell Univ. (N.Y.) Agric. Exp. Stn. 165: 1–122.
Ivanov G. I. 1976. The Soil Formation on the South Far East of Russia. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
Kira T. 1977. A climatological interpretation of Japanese vegetation zones. Pp. 21–30. In: Miyawaki A. & Tuexen R. (eds.), Vegetation science and environmental protection. Pp. 21–30. Maruzen Co. Ltd., Tokyo.
Kolesnikov B. P. 1938. The vegetation of the eastern slopes of the Middle Sikhote-Alin. Transactions of Sikhote-Alin State Reserve 1: 25–208 (in Russian).
Kolesnikov, B. P. 1955. A sketch of vegetation of the Russian Far East. Khabarovsk (in Russian).
Kolesnikov, B. P. 1969. High Mounting Vegetation of Middle Sikhote-Alin. Vladivostok (in Russian).
Krajina V. J. 1969. Ecology of forest trees in British Columbia. Ecol. West. N. Am. 2: 1–146.
Krylov A. G. 1984. Life Form of Forest Phytocenoses. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
Löve D. 1970. Subarctic and subalpine: where and what? Arct. Alp. Res. 1: 63–73.
Masing, V. 1969. Structural analysis of plant cover and classification problems. Pp. 49–59. In: Plant Taxonomy, Geography and Ecology in the Estonian S.S.R. Tallin.
Okitsu S. 1993. The establishment and phytogeographical comparison of the needle-leaved and deciduous-broadleaved mixed forest of Hokkaido, northern Japan, inferred from the Pinus koraiensis-deciduous-broadleaved mixed forest of the Sikhote-Alin' Range, Primorie, Geographidal Review of Japan 66A: 555–573 (in Japanese).
Okitsu S. & Ito K. 1984. Vegetation dynamics of the Siberian dwarf pine (Pinus pumila Regel) in the Taisetsu mountain range, Hokkaido, Japan. Vegetatio 58: 105–113.
Okitsu S. & Ito K. 1989. Conditions for the development of the Pinus pumila zone of Hokkaido, northern Japan. Vegetatio 84: 127–132.
Pogrebnyak, P. S. 1954. The Fundamentals of the Forest Typology. Kiev (in Russian).
Pryaluhina A. F. 1958. On alpine and subalpine vegetation of Bikin-Iman watershed. Botanichesky Zhurnal 43: 92–96 (in Russian).
Reference Book on a Climate of the USSR. Parts 2; 4. 1968. Gidrometeoizdat. Leningrad (in Russian).
Rosenberg, V. A. & Vasilyev, N. G. 1967. The problems of vegetation pattern of Middle Sikhote-Alin. Pp. 143–151. In: The Problems of Botany. Vol. 9. The Vegetation of High Mountains of the USSR and the Problems of Their Use. Frunze (in Russian).
Sakaguchi Y. 1983. Warm and cold stages in the past 7600 years in Japan and their global correlation. Bull. Dep. Georgr. Univ. Tokyo 15: 1–31.
Sochava V. B. 1944. The causes of forestless of the golets of the Eastern Siberia and Priamurye. Priroda 2: 63–65 (in Russian).
The History of the Terrain Development of Siberia and Far East. The South of Far East of Russia. 1972. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
Tolmachov A. I. 1956. Vertical distribution of vegetation on Sakhalin, Pp. 15–48. In: Plant cover of Sakhalin. USSR Academy of Sciences Publ., Moscow, Leningrad (in Russian).
Tranquillini W. 1979. Physiological ecology of the alpine timberline. Tree existence at high altitudes with special reference to the European Alps. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Vasilyev, N. G. 1965. The Mount Budishcheva. Pp. 18–31. In: A. F. Budishchev as the First Investigator of the Forests of the Far East of Russia. Vladivostok (in Russian).
Vasilyev N. G. & Kolesnikov B. P. 1974. Features of high mountain vegetation pattern or Arsenyev Mountains (The Middle Sikhote-Alin). Pp. 111–117. In: The Problems of Botany. Vol. 12. Plant World of Highlands and Its Mastering. Nauka, Leningrad.
Vasilyev N. G. & Kurentzova G. E. 1960. Altitudinal zonation of vegetation cover on the Mt. Ko in the Middle Sikhote-Alin. Komarovskie chtenia 8: 21–40 (in Russian).
Vorob'ev, D. V. 1959. The technique of forest typological investigations. Kharkov (in Russian).
Vyshin, I. B. 1990. Vascular Plants of the High Mountains of Sikhote-Alin. Vladivostok (in Russian).
Xu W.-D. & Lin C.-Q. 1981. Preliminary study of relations between vertical distribution of vegetation and thermal climate in Changbai Mountain. Research of forest ecosystems. Changbai Mountain Res. Station, Academia Sinica. 2: 88–95 (in Chinese with English summary).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Grishin, S.Y., Krestov, P. & Okitsu, S. The subalpine vegetation of Mt. Vysokaya, central Sikhote-Alin. Vegetatio 127, 155–172 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00044638
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00044638