scholarly journals Shape of cumulative land use systems' area distribution as a parameter of anthropogenic impact on landscapes

Statement of the problem and paper objective. Current challenges address global and regional threats to biotic and landscape diversity and the urgent need for its conservation, restoration and reproduction. They make it necessary to improve the tools for conceptual, information and calculating assessment of human activities impact on the environment. That is why the study of the landscapes anthropization, i.e. the process of their transformation through human activity, and the identification of the effects of this anthropization on the environment remains the most pressing problem of geography and geoecology. Given this, the paper objective was to substantiate, develop and verify new and sufficiently informative analytical tools for modeling anthropogenic impact of the land use and/or land cover (LULC) system on landscapes and/or physic-geographic taxons. Methods and results. The experience shows that the resumptive graphic solutions for the analysis of anthropogenic impact on landscapes can be correctly represented in the form of certain modified graphs of statistics. So, the classified scheme of the LULC system areas' cumulative distribution in landscapes and/or physic-geographic taxons was substantiated and constructed as analytical tool for modeling anthropogenic impact on landscapes / taxons. The scheme is based on the concept that the types of the mentioned distribution in its shape are adequate a certain category and the intensity of anthropogenic impact on landscapes or taxons. Properly the distribution of LULC system areas was typified by the ranges for the parameter of polynomial trends in the cumulative graphs of these areas in landscapes or their aggregations. Under these conditions, the scheme of areas' cumulative distribution operates with ten types of distribution – from excessively convex to excessively concave. These types also reflect different anthropogenic impacts on taxons – from weak to excessively strong. Verification of the scheme calculating LULC system areas' cumulative distribution was realized for the test megaregion, including 30 physic-geographic areas and 130 physic-geographic districts of the five regions in the zones of mixed (coniferous / broad-leaved) and broad-leaved forests and forest-steppe of Ukraine. Relevant digital choropleths concerning anthropogenic impact on these taxons were simulated and analyzed. Scientific novelty and practical significance. Scientific novelty is determined by the reason that the developed scheme and obtained model results are more parametrically diverse than in the existing procedures. This is caused by the fact that the proposed tools are more informative and statistically effective for identification of anthropogenic impact on landscapes and physic-geographic taxons than the average-weighted and other calculating anthropization indexes or schemes for consideration the impact of only dominant LULC systems. The verification of the developed tools for the test megaregion affirmed the general validity of the proposed new methodical approaches. The paper results are applicable for the improvement of procedures, schemes and projects of environmental management for plain terrestrial landscapes and their aggregations in midlatitudes.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuo Wang ◽  
Jie Zeng ◽  
Wanxu Chen

Abstract Carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems, which is the basis of the global carbon cycle, reflects the changes in the environment due to anthropogenic impacts. Rapid and effective assessment of the impact of urban expansion on carbon reserves is vital for the sustainable development of urban ecosystems. Previous studies lack research regarding different scenarios during future city and comprehensive analysis on the driving factors from the socioeconomic point of view. Therefore, this study examined Wuhan, China and explored the latent effects of urban expansion on terrestrial carbon storage by combining the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) and Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model. Based on different socioeconomic strategies, we developed three future scenarios, including Baseline Scenario (BS), Cropland Protection Scenario (CP), and Ecological protection Scenario (EP), to predict the urban built-up land use change from 2015 to 2035 in Wuhan and discussed the carbon storage impacts of urban expansion. The result shows that: (1) Wuhan's urban built-up land area expanded 2.67 times between 1980 and 2015, which is approximately 685.17 km2 and is expected to continuously expand to 1,349–1,945.01 km2 by 2035. (2) Urban expansion in Wuhan has caused carbon storage loss by 5.12×106 t during 1980–2015 and will lead to carbon storage loss by 6.15×106 t, 4.7×106 t, and 4.05×106 t under BS, CP, and EP scenarios from 2015 to 2035, accounting for 85.42%, 81.74%, and 78.79% of the total carbon loss, respectively. (3) The occupation of cropland by urban expansion is closely related to the road system expansion, which is the main driver of carbon storage reduction from 2015 to 2035. (4) We expect that by 2035, the districts facing carbon loss caused by the growth of urban built-up land will expand outward around secondary roads, and the scale of outward expansion under various scenarios will be ranked as: BS >CP > EP. In combination, the InVEST and the PLUS model can assess the impact of urban expansion on carbon storage more efficiently and is conducive to carrying out urban planning and promoting a dynamic balance between urban economic development and human well-being.


2020 ◽  
Vol 164 ◽  
pp. 07020
Author(s):  
Larisa Gilyova ◽  
Marina Podkovyrova

The article highlights the problems of the negative impact of oil and gas facilities on the environment Northern territories this necessitates the development of measures for the greening of land use based on the results of an environmental impact assessment and decision-making to minimize or eliminate them. The article presents the results of the environmental impact assessment of oil and gas facilities, zoning is conducted by the degree of impact and criteria for the degree of impact are defined. The results of the environmental impact assessment made it possible to assess the degree of anthropogenic impact of the study object and to develop recommendations for reducing adverse industrial effects in order to protect the environment.


The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1016-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Unkelbach ◽  
Kaoru Kashima ◽  
Gaadan Punsalpaamuu ◽  
Lyudmila Shumilovskikh ◽  
Hermann Behling

The ‘Altai Tavan Bogd’ National Park in the north-western part of the Mongolian Altai, Central Asia, is located in a forest-steppe ecosystem. It occurs under the influence of extreme continental and montane climate and is sensitive to natural and anthropogenic impacts. High-resolution (<20 years per sample) multi-proxy data of pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), macro-charcoal, diatoms, and XRF scanning from radiocarbon-dated lacustrine sediments reveal various environmental changes and the impact of different settlement periods for the late-Holocene. From 1350 to 820 cal. yr BP (AD 600–1130), the distribution of grass steppe indicates a climate similar to present-day conditions. Rapid improvements of climatic conditions (e.g. increased rainfall events) possibly favored a recovery of forest-steppe encouraging nomadic movements into alpine areas. In the period from 820 to 400 cal. yr BP (AD 1130–1550), the decline of forested areas suggests an increasingly drier and possibly colder climate. Some political shifts during the Mongol Empire (744–582 cal. yr BP; AD 1206–1368) favored variations in nomadic grazing habits. After 400 cal. yr BP (AD 1550), moisture and temperature increased slightly, and from ca. 40 cal. yr BP (AD 1910) to present, annual temperature continued to increase more markedly favoring an additional water availability due to permafrost degradation. Diatom data suggest several intervals of increased water availability in all periods which might have caused erosion due to heavier rainfall events or increased snow melt. Immediately after most of these high-water intervals, NPP data reveal periods of increased grazing activities in the area.


2019 ◽  
pp. 121-132
Author(s):  
Larisa N. Gileva ◽  
Natalya V. Egorova

The growth of energy consumption entails an increase in the production of hydrocarbons, the number of fields, which are involved in this process, and the territory of license areas. Overall, environmental impact may be increased. Northern territories of our country are more exposed to anthropogenic impact from the oil and gas facilities because of huge oil and gas reserves availability. Therefore, the strategic developments for the greening of production on the basis of the concept of sustainable exploitation of these territories are very important. Suggested concept involves a balanced activity that provides high economic efficiency and environmental safety, aimed at reducing adverse anthropogenic consequences.The assessment of the impact of oil and gas facilities on the environment was carried out in the territory of the West Chatylkinsky field of Krasnoselkupsky district of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The results obtained allowed assessing the degree of impact of cluster sites and communication corridors of the objects of the land and property complex of the oil field and developing recommendations to reduce adverse anthropogenic consequences in order to protect the environment and ensure the greening of land use.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1223
Author(s):  
María Laura Vélez ◽  
Ludmila La Manna ◽  
Manuela Tarabini ◽  
Federico Gomez ◽  
Matt Elliott ◽  
...  

This work reports the first survey of Phytophthora diversity in the forests soils of Andean Patagonia. It also discusses the role of anthropogenic impact on Phytophthora distribution inferred from the findings on Phytophthora diversity and on the distribution of Phytophthora austrocedri-diseased forests. Invasive pathogen species threatening ecosystems and human activities contribute to their entry and spread. Information on pathogens already established, and early detection of potential invasive ones, are crucial to disease management and prevention. Phytophthora austrocedri causes the most damaging forest disease in Patagonia, affecting the endemic species Austrocedrus chilensis (D. Don) Pic. Sern. and Bizzarri. However, the relationship between anthropogenic impacts and the disease distribution has not been analyzed enough. The aims of this work were: to evaluate Phytophthora diversity in soils of Andean Patagonia using a metabarcoding method, and analyze this information in relation to soil type and land use; to assess the distribution of Austrocedrus disease over time in relation to anthropogenic and abiotic gradients in an area of interest; and to discuss the role of human activities in Phytophthora spread. High throughput Illumina sequencing was used to detect Phytophthora DNA in soil samples. The distribution of Austrocedrus disease over time was assessed by satellite imagery interpretation. Twenty-three Phytophthora species, 12 of which were new records for Argentina, were detected. The most abundant species was P. austrocedri, followed by P. × cambivora, P. ramorum and P. kernoviae. The most frequent was P. × cambivora, followed by P. austrocedri and P. ramorum. Phytophthora richness and abundance, and Austrocedrus disease distribution, were influenced by land use, anthropogenic impact and soil drainage. Results showed several Phytophthoras, including well-known pathogenic species. The threat they could present to Patagonian ecosystems and their relations to human activities are discussed. This study evidenced the need of management measures to control the spread of P. austrocedri and other invasive Phytophthora species in Patagonia.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Qiao ◽  
Luo Liu ◽  
Dongrui Han ◽  
Zongyao Sun ◽  
Xinliang Xu

&lt;p&gt;Urban Heat Island (UHI), a phenomenon characterized by significantly higher air and land surface temperatures (LSTs) in urban areas than in suburban areas, results in land use change from non-urban to urban land and is accompanied by increases in anthropogenic heat release. A variety of land use contribution indexes have been proposed to quantitatively calculate the impact of land use types on UHI. However, these indexes can only show the impact of specific land use types on UHI. In fact, the area and the intensity (which also can be considered as the average temperature) of land use change jointly determine the regional UHI. The purpose of this paper is to develop an algorithm to quantitatively reveal the influence of the area and the intensity of land use change on regional UHI. MODIS LST products and 1:1,000,000 land use data sets were used to quantitatively calculate the seasonal and interannual contributions of land use change on regional UHI between 2005 and 2018 in China. These results have theoretical and practical significance for further understanding the formation mechanism of urban thermal environment and its mitigation measures.&lt;/p&gt;


2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-63
Author(s):  
Miroslav Krastanov ◽  
Boyko Berov

A specific sample area was selected, where an assessment model was made for the stability of a slope subjected to anthropogenic impacts. A hillside slope zone from the foot of the Vitosha and Lozen mountains in the southern periphery of the Sofia Kettle was chosen as an exemplary area for a part of the hazards arising in the Trans-Balkan valleys. The anthropogenic impact on their slope stability was studied on three particular slopes. The study area is about 1.25 km2 and has a maximum distance of up to 3.80 km between the slopes. Landslide processes resulting from anthropogenic impact often occur on the territory of the Sofia Valley. The rise of construction, the development of hard-to-reach terrains with steep slopes, their undercutting, the seismic impact and the low values of the strength-deformation parameters of the geological varieties building up the respective terrains contribute to their occurrence. The deforestation, the loads with heavy embankments, the hydration and the inhomogeneity of the layers of the earth base have a strong destabilizing effect. The paper presents the results of field and laboratory tests and analyses of slope stability by the method of Fellenius. The severity of the impact of the various destabilizing factors was assessed.


2019 ◽  
pp. 3-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Kipriyanova ◽  
M. A. Kleshchev

Information on the aquatic and semiaquatic vegetation of the major watercourses of West Siberia is relatively scarce, while this of small rivers is practically absent. There are 430 rivers whose length exceeds 10 km within the Novosibirsk Region. The aim of our work was to study the phytocenotic diversity of their aquatic and semiaquatic vegetation. 130 geobotanical relevés were performed by the authors in July–August 2003–2005. The object was aquatic communities formed by true aquatic (submergent and floating-leaved) plants and semiaquatic ones with emergent plants and these of water′s edge. In total 10 watercourses were studied (Table 1): 2–3 in each of five geomorphologic regions within the forest-steppe zone (Table 2). The upper, middle and lower courses (Fig. 1, Table 1) with the length of 2–2.5 km were studied in each case to ensure the 4–5 repetition of main elements (stream pools and ridges) that would give a reliable information on their flora and vegetation. The sample plots were selected above the settlements, whenever possible in sites with no to intensive anthropogenic impact. The data were collected according to J. Braun-Blanquet (1964) approach. The relevés were done on the sample plot of 100 m2 placed in the most homogeneous part of the community or, in case of its smaller area, within the natural boundaries. The following scale was used for abundance estimation: r — the species is extremely rare; + — rare, small cover; 1 — the number of individuals is large, the cover is small or individuals are sparse, but the cover is large; 2 —cover of 5–25 %; 3 — 26–50 %; 4 — 51–75 %; 5 — more than 75 %. The date on water depth, transparency (on a white Secchi disk with a diameter of 30 cm), temperature and the flow rate were obtained. The soil mechanical composition and color, the degree and nature of anthropogenic impact on vegetation and river banks were quantified. Water samples for general chemical analysis were taken in the middle course of each river. Computer programs TURBOVEG and MEGATAB (Hennekens, 1996) were used for database. The syntaxonomic affiliation of phytocenoses was determined using modern literature (Bobrov, Chemeris, 2006; Vegetace..., 2011; Chepinoga, 2015; Landucci et al. 2015; Mucina et al., 2016, etc.). 36 associations and 3 communities belonging to 12 alliances, 9 orders, and 5 classes have been identified (Tables 3–14, Fig. 2–9). Such great syntaxonomic diversity is determined by the significant ecotopic variety, the variability of substrates, the wide range of water flow rates and the different water trophicity. For comparison, 26 associations, 13 variants, 2 communities were identified in the study of 50 rivers of Lithuania (Sinkyavichene, 1992); altogether 84 associations are known for the Upper Volga region as a whole (Bob­rov, Chemeris, 2006), while 45 ones were recorded previously in 130 watercourses of this region (Bobrov, 1999). Information on small river macroalgae cenoses in the study area is partially reflected in the paper published earlier (Bobrov et al., 2005).


Author(s):  
M. Novokhatskyi ◽  
◽  
V. Targonya ◽  
T. Babinets ◽  
O. Gorodetskyi ◽  
...  

Aim. Assessment of the impact of the most common systems of basic tillage and biological methods of optimization of nutrition regimes on the realization of the potential of grain productivity of soybean in the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. Methods. The research used general scientific (hypothesis, experiment, observation) and special (field experiment, morphological analysis) methods Results. The analysis of the results of field experiments shows that the conservation system of soil cultivation, which provided the formation of 27.6 c/ha of grain, is preferable by the level of biological yield of soybean. The use of other systems caused a decrease in the biological yield level: up to 26.4 c/ha for the use of the traditional system, up to 25.3 c/ha for the use of mulching and up to 23.0 c/ha for the use of the mini-till. With the use of Groundfix, the average biological yield of soybean grain increases to 25.6 c / ha for application rates of 5 l/ha, and to 28.2 c/ha for application rates of 10 l/ha when control variants (without the use of the specified preparation) an average of 22.6 c/ha of grain was formed with fluctuations in soil tillage systems from 21.0 (mini-bodies) to 25.8 c/ha (traditional).The application of Groundfix (10 l/ha) reduced the seed abortion rate from 11.0% (average without biofertilizer variants) to 8.0%, forming the optimal number of stem nodes with beans, increasing the attachment height of the lower beans and improving other indicators of biological productivity soybeans. Conclusions. It has been found that the use of the canning tillage system generates an average of 27.6 cent soybean grains, which is the highest indicator among the main tillage systems within the scheme of our research. The use of Groundfix caused a change in this indicator: if the variants with a conservative system of basic tillage without the use of biological preparation (control) were formed on average 24.1 c/ha, the use of Ground Licks caused the increase of biological productivity up to 29.4 c/ha, and at a dose of 10 l/ha biological yield was 32.2 c/ha. It was found that both the use of Groundfix and the basic tillage system influenced the elements of the yield structure: the density of the plants at the time of harvest depended more on the tillage system than on the use of Groundfix; the use of Groundfix and increasing its dose within the scheme of our studies positively reflected on the density of standing plants; the height of attachment of the lower beans and reduced the abortion of the seeds.


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