“Europe breathes our oxygen”: ecologist on the state of Russian forests and the fight against pests

- Marina Yakovlevna, according to some estimates, the damage caused by insects to forests can sometimes exceed the damage from fires.

What are the most harmful insect species living in Russia, if you do not take invasive species?

- First of all, it is worth remembering such a pest as the Siberian silkworm.

The forest in the centers of distribution of this caterpillar becomes dead.

Trees are dying so massively that these areas look like gray spots in the taiga, they can be seen even from space.

Another common pest in Russia is the Ussuri polygraph, a fir pest.

True, it is an invasive species.

It was brought from the east to the main part of Siberia.

- Which regions of Russia are most affected by pests?

Can this damage be calculated?

- The situation with damage assessment is very difficult, because now there are not even such methods.

This is a very serious scientific problem - how to calculate such damage.

Speaking about which regions of Russia suffer from pests the most, one should first of all name the Caucasus region.

Unfortunately, it is he who is most susceptible to insect invasions due to climatic reasons.

And in Europe, for example, Italy is such a problematic region, also because of its climate.

• Boxwood fire / Yew-boxwood grove

• Gettyimages.ru

- What happens to the forest after the invasion of pests?

Can the original ecosystem be restored?

And if so, how fast?

- It depends on the type of trees, the speed of their growth.

For example, if we talk about boxwood, which suffers from boxwood moth, then everything is very bad here - it takes several hundred years for new boxwood trees to grow.

And, in fact, it is clear that this may not happen at all.

Therefore, it is especially insulting because of the destruction of boxwood in the Caucasus.

They are trying to restore these forests, people are doing what they can, but so far the insects are winning.

But there are also cases of luck.

An interesting example can be given with an ash emerald narrow-bodied goldfish.

The fact is that ash in the Moscow region is restored due to root shoots - when the main trunk is dead, and new shoots grow on the sides.

And it turned out that in the Moscow region, ash trees managed to survive after the outbreak of borer - scientists still cannot understand why.

After all, usually an outbreak of borer destroys the entire ash forest, but for some reason our trees survive.

- I would like to touch upon the topic of chemical protection of forests - at least, reserves.

Is it used today, are there any safe means?

Or does the harm outweigh the benefit in this case?

- There is harm from such drugs, therefore, for example, chemicals cannot be used in cities.

Chemicals are used in botanical gardens to protect especially valuable specimens.

Droppers with pesticides, injectors are placed on trees.

But in this case, we are talking about controlled, closed conditions - not on the streets of the city or in the park.

• Ash emerald borer

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Wolfgang Hoffmann / Design Pics

— Scientists from the A.N.

Severtsov, Russian Academy of Sciences, predicted the possibility of the appearance in the Caucasus of such a pest of forests as the ash emerald narrow-bodied borer.

What is this pest and why is it dangerous for forests?

— The emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis is a beautiful bright green beetle, a representative of the most numerous genus of animals (3000 species).

The larvae of the borer develop under the bark of an ash tree, gnawing through winding tunnels.

Just 20 years ago, this species lived only in Asia: China, Japan, Korea and the Russian Far East.

At home, he was not considered a serious pest, because he inhabited only weakened ash trees.

However, in the 1990s, seedlings of American ash species were brought to China and massively planted, and it turned out that these trees are defenseless against the goldfish, because, unlike Asian ash trees, they did not develop protective mechanisms against it in the process of evolution.

On these ash trees, the goldfish gave an outbreak of numbers (increase in numbers. -

), which became the beginning of its settlement around the world.

In 2002, goldfish was discovered in the USA and Canada, and in 2003 in Moscow.

Since that time, the spread of a new pest across two continents and the mass death of ash trees began.

To date, the borer is recognized as the "most costly" forest pest in US history.

In Europe, the goldfish occupied 19 regions of the European part of Russia: from St. Petersburg to the Astrakhan region and part of Ukraine.

In the EU, the borer is listed as one of the 20 most dangerous quarantine pests.

It threatens forests all over Europe and there is no way to prevent its spread yet.

• Ash

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Rosemary Calvert

In addition, it has been experimentally proven that borer larvae can develop not only on ash, but also on olive.

So far, there are no regions where the goldfish has penetrated into the area of ​​olive cultivation.

Therefore, it is not known whether it will harm this agricultural crop.

If so, then the resettlement of the borer to the Middle East and Southern Europe will damage the agriculture of these regions.

Calculations show that goldfish will appear in the Caucasus and Crimea in the next few years.

There are olive trees there.

Observing the state of these plantings, one can get an answer whether the goldfish poses a danger to the olive.

At present, the border of the range of the borer is approaching the EU, Kazakhstan and the countries of the Caucasus region.

“It turns out that the danger of the borer is not least due to the fact that it is an invasive species for our forests.

And this is not the only case of the appearance of such alien pests - for example, earlier in Sochi, some quarantine pests were brought with Italian planting material, now they are being fought in the region.

Is it possible to minimize the impact of invasive species on the ecosystem at all?

— Yes, more than 20 new pests were accidentally brought to Sochi during preparations for the Olympics.

This led to serious consequences - for example, the destruction of boxwood is being actively carried out by a butterfly brought with seedlings - a boxwood moth.

It is especially a pity for the famous yew-boxwood grove - this is one of the main natural attractions of the region, it has suffered very much.

However, invasive pest species have been brought to the Black Sea coast before.

For example, the floriculture pest, the luperomorpha xanthodera leaf beetle, is now active in the region.

This beetle originates from Asia, then was brought to Western Europe - where it was first discovered in 2003.

And then it began to spread along with planting material, mainly with rose seedlings.

— What measures, besides the standard phytosanitary control, are being taken to prevent the further spread of such pests?

“Unfortunately, so far insects are winning in the fight between humans and insects.

However, there are also positive examples.

So, at one time, strict quarantine made it possible to prevent the Colorado potato beetle from entering the British Isles.

Therefore, the British are the only European people who eat potatoes grown without pesticides.

In our country, an advanced and environmentally friendly method of pest control is being developed - the biological method.

Even in the Soviet Union, to protect citrus fruits from the most dangerous pest - the Australian grooved worm - the natural enemy of this pest, the ladybug rhodolia, was released on the plantation.

Rhodolia populations that have survived from those times still “work” in the tangerine gardens of Adler and Georgia: they do not allow the worm to multiply and destroy the trees.

• Colorado beetle

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Alexander Kooistra / 500px

Now cryptolemus ladybugs are propagated at the Lazarevskaya plant protection station and released in the Sochi arboretum to protect oleanders.

And at the VIZR RAS in St. Petersburg, various types of ladybugs are bred to protect crops in greenhouses.

Is there a link between forest pests and fires?  

- Oh sure.

Fires spread more actively in dead, dry forests.

The massive drying up of trees, such as ash trees in roadside forest belts, creates conditions for fires.

• ladybug rhodolia

• © Wikimedia Commons

— How do special structures operate in Russia that ensure the protection of forests from pests?

Are there any projects being developed by scientists to improve the forest ecosystem? 

— Yes, we have both Roslesozashchita and a plant quarantine service within the structure of Rosselkhoznadzor.

They work with maximum efficiency.

However, even this is not enough, because the plant quarantine service monitors only a small list of quarantine species.

For full coverage, we need a special Entomofauna Monitoring Service that will monitor the entire insect fauna in the regions, and not just alien pests.

The fact is that the danger comes not only from invasive species, so it is important to monitor the entire insect fauna throughout the country.

To do this, it is necessary to train more entomologists, create a single database on the ranges of various species.  

Otherwise, invasions of invasive pest species will take business executives by surprise.

Our institute has already put forward a proposal to create such a service, when our employees took part in the work of the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation on the “Voluntary National Review of the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

- What is the state of forests in Russia now?

And what are the dynamics?

- overall condition

forests in our country is better than, say, in European countries.

Despite all the problems, the total area of ​​forests in Russia is growing year by year.

— How do Russian forests affect the overall ecological system of the planet?

—

In fact, oxygen is Russia's most important "export commodity".

Europe breathes our oxygen.

We can say that Russian forests absorb greenhouse gases emitted by European countries.

Therefore, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of the Russian forest for the planet.