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Due to global climate change and increased forest transformation by humans, accounting for the dynamics of forest ecosystems is becoming a central problem in forestry. We reviewed the success of considering vegetation dynamics in the most influential ecological forest classifications in Russia, the European Union, and North America. Out of the variety of approaches to forest classification, only those that are widely used in forestry and forest inventory were selected. It was found that the system of diagnostic signs developed by genetic forest typology based on the time-stable characteristics of habitats as well as the developed concept of dynamic series of cenosis formation allows us to successfully take into account the dynamics of vegetation. While forest dynamics in European classifications is assessed at a theoretical level, it is also possible to assess forest dynamics in practice due to information obtained from EUNIS habitat classification. In ecological classifications in North America, the problem of vegetation dynamics is most fully solved with ecological site description (ESD), which includes potential vegetation and disturbance factors in the classification features. In habitat type classification (HTC) and biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification (BEC), vegetation dynamics is accounted based on testing the diagnostic species and other signs of potential vegetation for resistance to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Understanding of vegetation–environment associations is fundamental in forming proper forest management methods and improving existing classification structures. We believe that this topic is relevant as part of the ongoing search for new solutions within all significant forest ecological classifications.

The purpose of this paper is to study dynamics patterns of the Ural (Russia) forest ecosystems to allow their biodiversity conservation in the context of anthropogenic impact. One of our objectives was to test the hypothesis that external factors cause splitting-up of natural forests and their replacement by a range of successional series. Our research was conducted in the Southern Ural Mountains. We studied differentiation of the forest vegetation after clear-cuttings in the most typical environments: on smooth slopes 1-2 degrees steep with deep soils, at 400-500 m above the sea level. Tree stand, understory, and grass layer were studied within a number of sampling plots (0.5 ha). To measure biomass of grass and shrub layer laid 10-15 subplots (0.5x0.5m) within each sampling area. The obtained data was used in Correspondence Analysis (CA). For numerical analysis we used R package vegan. We found that clear-cuttings in the Southern Ural Mountains cause profound transformation of the forest vegetation structure and in all the layers. Patterns of regeneration-age dynamics differ both in tree stand and herbaceous layer: within a single natural forest, a whole range of alternative successional series are formedspruce, fir, birch, and aspen forests (short-term, long-term, and stable-term secondary), each having specific productivity of herbaceous layer. All the studied after-cutting forests (after-cutting (secondary) 50-70-year-old spruce and fir forests, short-term secondary birch forests (age of 5-100), long-term secondary birch forests (age of 20-100), and 8-110-year-old stable-term secondary aspen forests) differ from natural dark coniferous forests in the structure of herbaceous biomass and dynamic patterns. The differences between natural and after-cutting forests remain for over 100 years.

The ecological indicator values are the most common and sufficiently effective method of habitat assessment. The aim of our research review is to analyze current studies from 2020 to 2022 in which researchers have used Ellenberg indicator values to address a variety of problems. We limited the study to papers that are published in journals indexed by Scopus and Web of Science. The total number of records examined was 358. The number of records selected was 98. Visualization of the distribution of studies by country is based on the GeoCharts library. The results revealed that about half of the studies were conducted in Germany and Poland, and the most common objects were forests and grasslands. Almost half of the studies were devoted to ecological niches, habitat analysis, assessment of vegetation dynamics, and influence of various factors on plants. The analyzed articles are actively cited. In general, our research analysis revealed the effectiveness of Ellenberg indicator values for solving a wide range of urgent problems for a variety of plant communities, and different climate zones. The results of our research confirmed the advisability of actively using this approach.

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Paper describes key elements of a genetic approach to classification of forest types – one of the original forest typological research directions in Russia summarizes the results of research over the hundred-year period of formation and development of this promising (from the point of view of sustainable management of natural resources) scientific direction. Authors provide a map of current forest type genetic classification use in the Russian Federation, and outline key perspective directions in the development of genetic classifications within a framework of the described approach. Modern genetic forest typology is an interdisciplinary science. It uses forestry, soil science, biogeography, and landscape ecology, allow you to reflect the processes of forest vegetation dynamics in syntaxons and on maps. Therefore, it gives excellent results for systematizing not only primary forests, but also a variety of secondary plant communities with extremely variable composition. Authors believe that there are the following main avenues of genetic approach to forest type classifications development: improvement of forest zoning technologies based upon assessment of environmental factors’ quantitative values, including development of spatial models for estimating factor values; development of new automated quantitative assessment methods for forest site conditions and tree stands’ parameters using high spatial resolution data obtained from aerial drones; development and verification of the rules for combining forest areas with relatively close parameter values, i.e. with similar forest-growing conditions, in one spatial unit; development and verification of the rules for combining spatial units with relatively different forest-growing conditions into larger units according to applied silvicultural practices; Improvement of existing and development of new forest typological schemes reflecting changes in climate conditions that can be applied for zones with high levels of anthropogenic impacts; development of silvicultural practices and logging technologies considering classification schemes of forest type dynamics; Genetic studies of the populations that compose forest communities. Genetic forest type classification is based upon the origin (genesis) and development of forests. Therefore, genesis studies of forest communities based on genetic analysis of the populations will become the core theme of the future fundamental research in this area.

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