A.P. Geraskina

Center for Forest Ecology and Productivity of the RAS

Profsoyuznaya st. 84/32 bldg. 14, Moscow, 117997, Russia

E-mail: angersgma@gmail.com

Received 11 November 2018

The paper presents the results of a study of the population of earthworms at three stages of after-felling succession of coniferous-deciduous forests in the North-West Caucasus (headwaters of the river Pshekha and headwaters of the river Belaya). Studies were conducted in three types of forest communities: the early stage – aspen-hornbeam-honeysuckle small herb forests, the intermediate stage – spruce-hornbeam small herb forests, the late stage – beech-fir dead cover forests. There are brown forest soils. It was shown that in the course of post-workout succession, significant transformations of the earthworm complex occur only at a late stage, where biomass worm increases significantly. Four morpho-ecological groups of Lumbricidae dwell only at a late stage in the old forest, despite the fact that at this stage the structure of ecological-cenotic groups of plants is simplified and oligodominant dead-cover communities with a predominance of boreal species are formed. Species of Lumbricidae with a сrimean- caucasian type of habitat (D. schmidti, D. mariupolienis) are dominated at all stages of forest succession. The demographic structure of the earthworm complex is stable in all types of forests and represented by different ontogenetic conditions with a significant predominance of juvenile worms – 65-78%.

Key words: North-Western Caucasus, succession, earthworms, Lumbricidae, forests, soil

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