Invaders and specially protected natural areas: why is an intruder worse?

• Main Authors: Yu. I. Gninenko, N. V. Shiryaeva
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch Publishing House 2023
• Subjects: dendrophilic invaders; nature reserves; natural parks; protection measures; Forestry; SD1-669.5; taiga; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.15372/SJFS20230505; https://doaj.org/article/b0e94c73525a482280bd96737ff4ec0f

The appearance of new dendrophilic intruders in forest communities in Russia in the XXI century are becoming more frequent and they cause more and more significant damage to stands. Each new aggressive alien species (invader) almost always turns out to be a big problem for foresters, since it is always detected by the damage caused, that is, when it has actually already naturalized in new habitats for it. By this time, there are no drugs approved for use against this alien, protection technologies have not been developed and the peculiarities of the biology of the phytophagus in its emerging secondary area have not been studied. Often the invader first appears in the forests around large cities and transport hubs, in various kinds of specially protected natural areas (protected areas). This makes it even more difficult to develop measures to protect against it. The appearance of an alien species in the forests of nature reserves and national parks currently makes it almost impossible to carry out protection measures even when the harm from the alien is obvious. Having appeared on the territory of a protected area, an invader becomes a protected inhabitant upon his presence here, since the current legislation does not provide for a different status for him. But in the taiga forests of Siberia, the appearance of invaders also does not lead to a quick start of developing measures to protect against them. Since the beginning of the XXI century, such dangerous invaders as the Ussuri polygraph (Polygraphus proximus Blandford, 1894), boxwood firewood (Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859)), eastern chestnut nutlet (Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, 1951), ash narrow-bodied emerald gold (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888), etc. have penetrated into the forests and landscaping plantings of Russia. Some of them have caused irreparable damage to natural forest communities. The purpose of the article is to consider some aspects of the current situation with dendrophilic invaders and discuss possible ways to solve the ...