1997 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 129-139
Changes in species composition and crown cover of major forest trees along the river Anyui, northern Sikhote-Alin, Far East Russia were documented. Three major forest zones were vertically distinguished by the crown cover dominance of the major tree species from the upper to the lower stream : Larix gmelinii forest zone, Picea jezoensis forest zone, and Pinus koraiensis-deciduous broadleaved mixed forest zone. The most prominent feature of the tree distribution along the river was that Pinus koraiensis prevailed on a wide range from the upper to the lower area of the river. The phytogeographical characteristic of this forest zonation was that the Picea jezoensis forest zone occupied the area between the Pinus koraiensis-deciduous broadleaved mixed forest zone and the Larix gmelinii forest zone, both of which bordered horizontally on each other in the vegetation zonation of the continental part of northeastern Asia. The major tree species mixing with Pinus koraiensis at a stand changed along the river from Larix gmelinii and Picea jezoensis in the upper area to the deciduous broadleaved species in the lower area. This change was supposed to be similar to that in the central Honshu at the Last Glacial Age as inferred from plant macro-fossil records and pollen analytical studies. The importance of the Pinus koraiensis-deciduous broadleaved mixed forest along the river was stressed for a precise understanding of the vegetation history of Japan since the Last Glacial Age.
