PETROZAVODSK, July 13. /TASS/. Botanists will study how vegetation composition changed in Karelia's Paanayarvi National Park over more than 170 years, press service of the Karelian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences said.
"A big-scale forest, soil and botanical research has begun in the Paanayarvi National Park," the press service said. "Thanks to floristic data collected in that area in the 19th century and later on, scientists have a unique opportunity to analyze how the vegetation has changed over more than 170 years, and they can make forecasts."
The work is part of a comprehensive expedition organized under the Arctic Nature in the Paanajarvi National Park project, supported by the Presidential Nature Foundation. The expedition features experts in various fields: parasitology, forestry, soil science, botany, zoology, entomology, and others.
The Paanayarvi National Park contains unique natural complexes. It is Karelia's most elevated part - the maximum relative elevation of the earth's surface is the Nuorunen Mount, which is 577 m high, other elevations are at 350-550 m (Kivakka, Lunas Mountains and others).
"The low-mountain landscape determines the presence in the national park of an extensive range of habitats for most diverse species of vascular plants according to ecological preferences - from swampy valleys between elevations to forest-tundra and tundra zones. Every habitat has specific features, first of all rare Arctic species that may be found in the region only here," the center's researcher, biologist Vera Timofeeva said.
Forest changes
The expedition will assess how the forest is changing with age. Scientists have a rare opportunity to compare the modern set of species with the floral data collected back in the middle of the 19th century. On one hand, the experts will have to determine changes in nature in intact and undisturbed areas. Thanks to a specially protected natural area that was established there in 1992, many forests have preserved unchanged.
"For example, most likely, the largest population of the lady's slipper orchid, listed in the Red Data Books of the Russian Federation and of Karelia, grows in the Paanayarvi National Park. The species may be found in the region's other areas, though typically in small groups of one-two to several dozen plants. Here, we can also see over a thousand specimens concentrated within a single biotope," the expert added.
At the same time, the park also has areas that were previously developed by humans: until the beginning of the 20th century, peasants used to live there, and agriculture was developed on farms. The scientists are also analyzing how the flora is changing and recovering after this long-term agricultural development, and how species that once accompanied humans either survive or disappear.
It is equally important to study consequences of the modern anthropogenic influence. Actively developing tourism leaves its mark: transport may bring alien plant species, trails and parking areas are being trampled. "Due to the harsh climate, the northern nature practically does not allow invasions. Cold is the main deterrent to flora's active transformation. However, at the same time, northern taiga ecosystems, especially tundra ecosystems, are very fragile, and that trampling may be critical for certain areas. One of the tasks we are facing is to understand how recreation may influence and to provide an objective assessment of the situation, given the number of visitors coming to the national park keeps growing every year," the scientist said in conclusion.
The work is carried out under the Arctic Nature in the Paanajarvi National Park project, implemented by the North-Center Association and the National Park. Karelia's Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences is the project's partner. Results of retrospective studies on undisturbed and human-developed territories are used to forecast how the flora will change in the coming decades and centuries.