scholarly journals Anthropogenic Transformation of the Vegetation in the Areas of Environmental Contact Zones of the South-Western Trans-Baikal

Author(s):  
А.P. Sizykh ◽  

While performing studies we imposed the tasks to reveal general (background) characteristics of structural-dynamic organization of the vegetation and to find out the peculiarities of formation of phytocoenoses on the sites reflecting the specifics and trends of their modern formation under anthropogenic impact, such as fires, cutting and pasturage during several decades. The studied area is situated in the transitional zone between the forest-steppe and zonal steppes characteristic for South-East Asia – i.e., in an interzonal ecotone. An interzonal ecotone consists of coenoses forming under transitional environmental conditions, in this case – between forest-steppe and steppe areas of North and Central Asia. Main attention was paid to the characteristics of the actual state of phytocoenoses forming under different conditions of their recent destructions; species composition of synfolia and the most characteristic proxy species determining the actual state and the vector of formation of steppe coenoses and forests during last decades were studied with a particular attention. While analyzing the data obtained, we took into account as well the characteristics of the vegetation structure in the studied area presented in published papers of numerous researchers for many years. The results of general studies of the Baikal Region vegetation were also taken into account. The interzonal ecotone itself including the area of our studies always reflects spatial-dynamic organization of vegetation in the environmental zones in time and space. Anthropogenic factors are increase of the spatial and structural difference of the plant communities of the environmental contact all time.

Author(s):  
А.P. Sizykh ◽  

While performing studies we imposed the tasks to reveal general (background) characteristics of structural-dynamic organization of the vegetation and to find out the peculiarities of formation of phytocoenoses on the sites reflecting the specifics and trends of their modern formation under anthropogenic impact, such as fires, cutting and pasturage during several decades. The studied area is situated in the transitional zone between the forest-steppe and zonal steppes characteristic for South-East Asia – i.e., in an interzonal ecotone. An interzonal ecotone consists of coenoses forming under transitional environmental conditions, in this case – between forest-steppe and steppe areas of North and Central Asia. Main attention was paid to the characteristics of the actual state of phytocoenoses forming under different conditions of their recent destructions; species composition of synfolia and the most characteristic proxy species determining the actual state and the vector of formation of steppe coenoses and forests during last decades were studied with a particular attention. While analyzing the data obtained, we took into account as well the characteristics of the vegetation structure in the studied area presented in published papers of numerous researchers for many years. The results of general studies of the Baikal Region vegetation were also taken into account. The interzonal ecotone itself including the area of our studies always reflects spatial-dynamic organization of vegetation in the environmental zones in time and space. Anthropogenic factors are increase of the spatial and structural difference of the plant communities of the environmental contact all time.


Author(s):  
A. Yu. Kudryavtsev ◽  
М. L. Oparin ◽  
О. S. Oparina ◽  
A. В. Mamaev ◽  
D. V. Kovalev

The paper presents the results of our study of ecosystem diversity and the state of split-forest areas located in the Shchuchansky district of the Kurgan region. The species composition of forest stands, the productivity of tree species, the composition of underwood, brushwood and ground cover in plantations were analyzed. Data on the distribution of forest stands of various ages, composition, types of underwood and brushwood, as well as the main dominants of the ground cover are presented. Our studies have shown that forest communities are quite distinctly different in the nature of all storeys. A preliminary assessment of the economic impact on the territory of the site made it possible to identify significant changes in all the components of forest ecosystems, namely, ground cover, the composition and productivity of forest stands. The diversity of forest ecosystems in the study area is due to the ability of many plant species to inhabit a wide range of ecological conditions, as well as the composition, age and crowncontact, which, in turn, determines the nature of the storey of shrubs and ground cover. The volume of the forest type was taken quite large, it combined plantations of all age stages of forest stands development. Features of forest vegetation, typical for split forests of the Southern Trans-Urals, were revealed, namely: mosaic vegetation cover, low crown-contact and the presence of open spaces species in the lower storeys. The materials obtained showed that, despite the significant anthropogenic transformation, the forest ecosystems of the study area retained the main features characteristic of the peculiar vegetation of the forest-steppe of southern Siberia. The research results will make it possible to assess the diversity of forest ecosystems, to give a preliminary forecast of the dynamics of the site's vegetation and can be used in the development of a scientifically grounded strategy for forest management in the region under the conditions of the joint action of many natural and anthropogenic factors.


2021 ◽  
pp. 38-53
Author(s):  
O.G. Golubtsov ◽  
◽  
L.Yu. Sorokina ◽  
L.M. Tymuliak ◽  
V.M. Chekhniy ◽  
...  

The purpose of the publication is to present the results of the study of anthropogenic changes in the landscapes of the Forest-Steppe zone of Ukraine, implemented by assessing the indicators of landscapes anthropogenic transformation, their diversity and fragmentation. The basic research methods are methods of geospatial GIS analysis and decoding of remote sensing data of the Earth, geoinformation mapping. According to the indicators of anthropogenic transformation of landscapes at the level of physical-geographical regions and districts of the Forest-Steppe zone, the features of changes for the period 1992-2018 are determined. The results of assessment of anthropogenic changes in forest-steppe landscapes of Ukraine show that in 1992 as well as in 2018 the vast majority of the landscapes of the territory are strongly and excessively transformed by anthropogenic activity. Such patterns persist, despite the fact that during the analyzed period in part of the investigated area there is a certain decrease in anthropogenic pressure on landscapes. The regular relations between the indicators of anthropic landscape diversity and fragmentation of landscapes are determined, which corroborates to their certain conditionality by the degree and nature of anthropogenic transformation of the territory. The novelty of the study are the proposed methods of spatial and temporal changes in landscapes estimating and identifying such changes in landscapes at the level of physical and geographical regions for the period 1992-2018 and revealing trends in the structure of land use, especially agricultural lands, forests, built-up territories as the leading types of land use in the Forest-Steppe zone of Ukraine.


Author(s):  
Tigran Shahbazyan

The article considers the methodology of monitoring specially protected natural areas using remote sensing data. The research materials are satellite images of the Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 satellites, obtained from the resource of the US Geological Survey. The key areas of the study were 3 specially protected areas located within the boundaries of the forest-steppe landscapes of the Stavropol upland, the reserves «Alexandrovskiy», «Russkiy Les», «Strizhament». The space survey materials were selected for the period 1991–2020, and the data from the summer seasons were used. The NDVI index is chosen as the method of processing the spectral channels of satellite imagery. To integrate long-term satellite imagery into a single raster image, the method of variance of the variation series for the NDVI index was used. The article describes an algorithm for processing satellite images, which allows us to identify the features of the dynamics of the vegetation state of the studied territory for the period 1991–2020. The bitmap image constructed by means of the variance of the NDVI index was classified by the quantile method, to translate numerical values into classes with qualitative characteristics. There were 4 classes of the territory according to the degree of dynamism of the vegetation state: “stable”, “slightly variable”, “moderately variable”, “highly variable”. The paper highlights the factors of landscape transformation, including natural and anthropogenic ones. In the course of the study, the determining influence of anthropogenic factors of transformation was noted. The greatest impact is on the reserve «Alexandrovskiy», the least on the reserve «Russkiy Les», in the reserve «Strizhament» the impact is expressed locally. The paper identifies the leading anthropogenic factors of vegetation transformation, based on their influence on vegetation.


2015 ◽  
pp. 42-61
Author(s):  
E. E. Korolkova

The problem of rational use of natural resources of the Cisbaikalia is related to the study of vegetation, assessment of its actual state, extent of disturbance, as well as the prediction of dynamic trends. The investigated territory of the North-Western Cisbaikalia lies within the area of contacts of several physiographic and biogeographical boundaries. Great species and coenotic diversity of vegetation associated with it. The present-day vegetation of the region was formed in the late Pliocene – early Quaternary periods. When studying the evolutionary transformation of plant communities palynological, palaeobotanical and radiocarbon methods are used. The diversity of plant communities and their dynamics were reflected on the middle-scale (1 : 500 000) vegetation map. In constructing the mapping model and the legend to the map the vegetation was classified on geographic, genetic and structural-dynamic principles developed by V.B. Sochava and his followers. The results revealed the main regularities of distribution and development of the vegetation of the North-Western Cisbaikalia, identified their disturbance and general development trends.


A total of 426 spider species is known in the fauna of the Kharkiv Region. Of these, 32 species may be considered rare and/or vulnarable. The largest steppe areas in the Kharkiv Region are protected in the National Nature Park “Dvorichanskyi” and the Regional Landscape Park “Velykoburlutskyi Steppe”. The former hosts 11 rare spider species, the latter 13 species, and eight species occur in both Parks. For the species Lathys heterophthalma, Trachyzelotes lyonneti, Russocampus polchaninovaе, and Euryopis laeta it is the only valid record from Ukraine; for Pardosa maisa, Dipoena coracina, and Talavera aperta, maximun two or three localities are known. Titanoeca veteranica and Altella hungarica are the new records to the Kharkiv Region. Two species are extremely rare, Altella hungarica has been found in only seven localities in Europe, and Russocampus polchaninovae in four localities. Northern boundaries of the geographic ranges of Civizelotes pygmaeus, Gnaphosa dolosa, Xysticus marmoratus, X. mongolicus, and the southern boundary of Gnaphosa lugubris run through the Kharkiv Region. On the edges of their areas, these species become habitat specialists and occur only in steppes and/or dry meadows. Xyticus mongolicus inhabits sandy and chalky steppes with sparse vegetation. Gnaphosa taurica has high ecological plasticity in the steppe zone, while in the forest-steppe, it is limited with chalk and limestone outcrops. Some species like Gnaphosa lugubris, G. licenti, G. taurica, Zora pardalis and Eresus kollari, were abundant in our samplings while 19 species were found as singletons. G. taurica, and E. kollari preferred chalky slopes, G. licenti both chalky slopes and top of a southern ungrazed slope, G. lugubris dominated on all slopes in the Velykoburlutskyi Steppe, while Z. pardalis was the most abundant in ungrazed gully bottoms in both Parks. Being not numerous, Altella hungarica, Euryopis laeta, Civizelotes pygmaeus and Drassyllus vinealis occurred annually in the same habitats that may indicate stability of their populations. Given their habitat specificity, even numerous species became vulnerable under the threat of anthropogenic transformation of natural ecosystems. The only way to protect them is to preserve their habitats.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-506
Author(s):  
N. I. Koronkevich ◽  
A. G. Georgiadi ◽  
S. V. Dolgov ◽  
E. A. Barabanova ◽  
E. A. Kashutina ◽  
...  

In recent decades, in the southern macro-slope (catchment) of Te Russian Plain, mainly within the basins of the Volga and the Don rivers, the spring flood flow decreased due to both anthropogenic and climatic factors. Of anthropogenic factors, the creation of reservoirs played a signifcant role in changing the water regime of the Volga and the Don. Another important factor, affecting the river runoff, is agricultural activities on flat interfluves and slopes. Compared with the conventional-natural period (for the Volga from 1879, and for the Don from 1876 to 1929) to the date (for the period 1930–2014), the flood flow of the Volga has been decreased by more than 4300 km3, and the Don – by almost 900 km3. Te contribution of anthropogenic factors to this decrease in the Volga basin exceeded 70%, and for the Don it was equal to 45%, while the climatic ones contributed 30 and 55%, respectively. During the period of instrumental observations on the rivers of the region, long-lasting phases of high/low water content with duration from 15–20 to 90 years or longer, caused by the climatic changes, were determined. Tese are a characteristic feature of long-term changes in flood flow (and in a runoff of other seasons) on both medium and large rivers of the southern macro-slope of the Russian Plain. Te period since early 2000s was a start of the decreased flood flow everywhere, i.e. on medium and large rivers. It is most clearly (by tens of percent) manifested in the decrease of the spring surface flow due to the following factors: more frequent thaws, reduction of the depth of soil freezing, increase of infltration, especially in the forest-steppe and steppe zones. Increase in flow of the infltration origin does only partially compensate the decrease of the flow in rivers.


Author(s):  
N. A. Zhirov

The study of the frontier zone spaces is an urgent issue in modern Russian and foreign historiography. In the historical realities of the XVI-XVII centuries, the zone of the Russian frontier was located to the south of Moscow and stretched over a huge area of the forest-steppe zone, starting from the headwaters of the Don and going deep into the Steppe. Since the second half of the XVII century, thanks to the creation of the Belgorod defense line, rapid development of the territory of the line itself and adjacent territories began. But the real socio-economic ef fect of the construction of this line of defensive fortifications arose much later, by the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. In our article, the main emphasis is placed on the information capabilities of statistical sources of the first half of the XIX century on the socio-economic history of the Belgorod region. The territory of the Yelets county of the Oryol province, which was a historical part of the defense line, was taken as the object of the study. The study of socio-economic processes at the local level in a broad chronological framework is a promising direction in modern historical science. Shifting research emphasis from fixing the actual state of processes at a certain time in favor of studying their historical evolution over a long chronological period can help a scientist to take a fresh look at both little-studied and well-known facts. The research methodology consists of the use of both traditional methods and modern source-based methods. Our article describes the main markers with the help of which a comprehensive assessment of socio-economic changes in the studied territory will be carried out over a long chronological period. Based on the results of the work, it was concluded that statistical sources of the first half of the XIX century have a wide range of information opportunities for the history of socioeconomic processes that took place on the territory of the county. The obtained information is well combined with the information from mass sources of the XVII-XVIII centuries, without violating the basic methodological principles, but only expanding the possibilities of applying this approach to other territories located near or bordering the Belgorod line.


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