Biomass parameters of ground vegetation in old-growth spruce-fir forest in the north-east of the Kostroma region

Biomass of ground vegetation was measured in three forest types with domination of spruce and/or fir in the overstorey. According to the plant functional group domination, there were identified several microgroups in the ground vegetation for the each forest type. DCA analysis showed a similarity of the above-ground biomass of the same microgroups in different forest types. The large-fern microgroups have the maximal biomass values and the boreal small herb microgroups have the minimal ones. Vaccinium myrtillus microgroup has quite high values of the biomass. The maximal total above-ground biomass of ground vegetation was in the Spruce forest with domination of Vaccinium myrtillus. The maximal total below ground biomass was in Spruce-fir forest with co-domination of boreal small herbs, Vaccinium myrtillus and large ferns.