Home – Home – Jornals – Advanced Search

Presented are the results from taking an inventory and analyzing the land cover transformation during 2001-2012. The study revealed 246 types of transitions between land cover classes according to the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, including 229 types of changes with a change of land cover classes. The density of changes is highest in the taiga and steppe zones of Eurasia and North America, savannas and woodlands of Africa and South America, the Arctic tundras of North America and Eurasia. It was found that the natural zones with a complex structure of land cover (open woodlands, shrublands and savannas of the tropical belt and hard-leaved summer-dry open woodland and shrubs of the subtropical belt) have the larg est number of transition types (17) and types of changes (10 and 8, respectively). The contribution from the particular transfor mation processes to the structure of land cover changes within the natural zones was calculated to show the principal land cover trajectories for each natural zone. The findings provide a means of assessing the degree and nature of land cover transformation within the natural zones and identifying, on this basis, the leading land use trends which would have a considerable influence on the structure and dynamics of present-day land surface landscapes across the globe.

The formative stages of the geosystem mapping methodology are outlined. It is determined that the early stages of geosystem mapping showed a continuity of the ideas of geobotanical mapping: concerning the hierarchical structure of the phytosphere, and the invariant and the variable states of plant communities. It was found that geosystem mapping involves integrating the facies according to structural and structural-dynamic indicators differing from a traditional typization. Data were generalized having regard to the assignment of the facies to a particular landscape area. Use was made of the facies categories of optimal, limited and reduced development caused by a difference in their structure and biotic productivity. It was determined that a next mapping stage implied identifying the dynamic categories and geosystem state variables associated with one primary geomer regarded as the parent core. The map legend was based on the characteristics of the relief and vegetation. The absence of other indicators has limited the possibilities of using the map to solve forecasting problems. It was established that at present, given a significant body of landscape data, there is almost no research devoted to the cartographic solution of the problem of assessing changes in the natural environment. There is a need for mapping of the structural, dynamic and genetic uniqueness of geosystems and to explain their diagnostic features in all crucial components. We determined that the current stage of mapping should be focused on solving the problem of geographical map-based forecasting. For solving the forecast issues, we ide ntified the features of structural-dynamic and evolutionary transformations of geosystems, their stability, and the direction of transformation under the influence of various factors. The methodology of geosystem mapping are suggested.

Presented is a draft atlas entitled «Healing springs and medicinal herbs» that was prepared at the Faculty of Geography of the Lomonosov Moscow State University as part of a series of medical-geographical atlases of Russia. Based on the synthesis of accumulated information the Atlas will for the first time provide a complex representation of healing water and therapeutic mud sources and medicinal herbs of Russia systemically displaying the medical-geographical aspects of this natural resource as a component of the health-improving potential of the country. The Atlas is aimed at the solution of tasks covering the inventory, assessment and recommendations for utilization and protection of healing springs and medicinal herbs as a part of the national assets of the country. It would satisfy the information demands of people providing for their broader involvement in the sphere of scientific and traditional medicine. The geography of healing springs and medicinal herbs will be for the first time more com pletely displayed in the Atlas as well as showing their possible uses for the main classes of diseases. The Atlas includes six sections containing information on natural and socio-economic conditions, healing springs and medicinal herbs, diseases requiring natu ral medicinal resources for their treatment and prevention, on the study, protection and prospects for use of healing springs and medicinal herbs. A considerable body of reference information is included in the Appendix. Medical-geographical maps of model areas (the Tyva Republic, the Far East and the Crimea) will be published in the Atlas along with the all-Russia choro graphic maps. The Atlas will provide an information base for assessing the potential of the ecological, medical and spa tourism, sanatorium-resort therapy, the development of resource-saving extraction of water, mud and herbs for medical, health-improving, recreational and other purposes with due regard for environmental protection issues.

Using the method of mapping by high resolution satellite imagery mapping, a study was made of the key areas which are located in the southern part of the forest, forest-steppe and steppe zones of Tatarstan and of Orenburg, Saratov and Voronezh oblasts. Two key indicators were determined: the gully length density and gully head density within the basins; results of the investigation were used in compiling respective maps in vector format. It is established that the density of the gully length in the basins varies over the range from 0 to 0.5 km/km ² (from the absence of gullies to strong gully erosion), and the density of gully heads from 0 to 3 units head/km ² . The slope type of gullies is dominant in all basins (about 80 %), while the coastal and bottom types have approximately the same proportion (14 and 10 %, respectively). Using methods of mathematical statistics we determined a high directly proportional dependence of the indicators of the contemporary gully network on the level of ploughness of the basins and the mean annual precipitation amount, and an indirectly proportional dependence on the level of sodding. An abrupt reduction in gullying indicators was determined. It was found that among the chief reasons behind an abrupt reduction in the gullies to date is a decrease of the rate of agricultural development, with an additional factor, namely, a dramatic decrease in surface runoff down the arable slopes during spring snowmelt caused by climate warming. It is concluded that that a significant part of the gully forms in the study area is currently inactive and massively passes into the balka stage.

An analysis of geoinformation data on the spread of steppe fires is proposed, the areas of which are identified on the basis of a series of Landsat satellite images for 1984-2015. We selected five key sites located in different geographic areas of the Trans-Volga region and South Ural, covering clusters of the Orenburgskii state nature as well as adjacent agricultural areas. By analyzing the long-term dynamics, we determined a widespread trend of an intensification of steppe fires. Since the mid-1990s till the present, it has been manifested in a significant increase in the area of occurrence and in recurrence frequency. It has been established that the cause for an intensification of fires in the steppe regions is a significant reduction in agricultural production, accompanied by restoration of vegetation cover on unused lands and accumulation of dry phytomass. It was determined that, given the favorable conditions for the occurrence of fires, the weather and climate factors increased in importance, implying a higher amplitude of fluctuations in the areas of the burnt-over areas, especially in abnormal years. Data on the current frequency of grass fires (both in protected areas and in a large part of agricultural lands) indicate that the vegetation cover and other components of steppe ecosystems are constantly in a state of post-pyrogenic succession. Using an example of one of the sites (the Burtinskaya steppe), a high restorative capacity of tree-shrub areas within the boundaries of the ecotopes occupied by them was revealed. It was noted that the absolute regime of reserve that excludes any economic activities, combined with an intensification of fire phenomena in the adjacent territories, gives rise to an acute fire-hazardous situation. It is pointed out that there is a need to establish a unified system for ecological monitoring of fires.

For rehabilitation of disturbed ecosystems in mining areas, it is proposed to identify centers of biological diversity concentra tion in the immediate vicinity of coal-mining enterprises. Such centers should be selected on the basis of assessing natural land scape vulnerability to anthropogenic impact and calculating the rare species index. This research was done by using, as an ex ample, the Novokuznetsk district of Kemerovo oblast. In assessing vulnerability through a comparison (in matrix form) of calculated parameters of anthropogenic transformation and sustainability of landscapes, five levels of vulnerability (very high, high, medium, low, very low) were identified. The proportion of the territory of the district with low and very low vulnerability makes up 70.8 % and 7 %, respectively. The rare species index was calculated, based on assessing biodiversity represented by more than 1404 species, including 46.3 % of plant species and 36.3 % of animal species from the regional Red Data Book. GIS technologies were used at all stages of investigations. As a result, six centers of biodiversity concentration were identified for the Novokuznetsk district. The sites encompass key types of landscapes with very low and low vulnerability and a high index of rare species. Three of them are located in the Salair chain of hills, namely, at the interface of steppe, forest and valley landscapes (site I with rare species index of 9.1) as well as within taiga landscapes (6.4 for sites II and III). Three sites are located in the Kuznetsk Alatau; these are rare landscapes with tilia sibirica (IV - 23.1), and typical taiga landscapes of eastern (V - 23.1) and northern (VI - from 8.8 to 23.1) low mountains. The suggested approach can be used as a tool for solving environmental problems of mining regions.

A comprehensive study of fens was carried out in the zone of weak influence of the enterprises in the Norilsk industrial region. Evidence for the present state of these fens was obtained for the first time as well as on their typization, the pollution level of vegetation and peat deposits by aerotechnogenic pollutants, namely, copper, nickel, cobalt, lead and sulfur for the lower reaches of the Keta-Irbo river (western macroslope of the Putorana plateau). It was established that the proportion of fens in the study region is not high. They are located along the river valley on poorly drained piedmont plains and also occur in the lower part of the mountain-tundra belt. The fens are of forest-marshy or marshy subtype. Sedge, horsetail and Hypnum mosses are the main peat-forming plants in this area. The thickness of the peat deposit of the valley and mountain-tundra bogs varies from 2 to 3 and from 0 to 1 m, respectively. It is composed of sedge, Hypnum, grass-Hypnum peats. The peat deposits are characterized by an acid pH throughout the profile and by a low degree of peat decomposition. Diagnostics of the degree of pollution of plants-indicators for fens in the key area showed an exceedance of concentrations in all elements with the exception of lead when compared to the background. The highest copper and nickel concentration was observed in true mosses of pools filled with abundant water. The highest cobalt concentration was observed in sphagnum mosses of dry ridges. An ecological-geochemical assessment was made of the peat pollution level in the fens (the upper 0.5 m layer of the deposit). It was found that its pollution level depends on the geomorphological position, hydrothermal regime, and on the phytocenosis type of fens. The study revealed that the concentration of copper, nickel, cobalt and sulfur in peats of the valley fens is much lower than in peats of fens of in termontane depressions and in peats of the swamped birch forest. It is shown that generally the concentration of pollutants in peats of the fens in the study area significantly exceeds the background, especially for copper and nickel.

This paper considers the theoretical and methodological aspects of landscape-hydrological analysis in substantiating the possible development of recreational activities within the boundaries of the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory (BNT CEZ) in Irkutsk oblast. The hydrological characteristics of the landscapes in terms of their sensitivity and resistance to natural changes and external influences are given. We carried out a landscape-hydrological zoning for the BNT CEZ territory within the boundaries of Irkutsk oblast having regard to the conditions of runoff formation, the characteristic features of its regulation in various landscapes, and to the possibility of preserving the natural water regime and the water-ecological state in utilizing the territory. It is determined that the main factors for the landscape differentiation in assessing the advisability of recreational development without damage to the Lake Baikal ecosystem and to the natural waters of BNT CEZ as a whole are the hydrological properties of landscapes and resistance of natural complexes to impacts. It is found that the level of realization of the main hydrological functions of landscapes, i. e. the runoff formation, runoff regulation and water protection functions, characterizes the involvement of the natural complex in the formation of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the local runoff, in the replenishment processes of dynamical reserves of subsurface waters, the regulation of natural floods and freshets, the preservation of the water-ecological potential of the territory. As a result a landscape-hydrological framework zoning of the territory using the landscape planning tools, three zones have been identified: the zone of the preservation of the existing state, the zone of regulated use, and the zone of territorial development. The proposed zones have general recommendations for the preservation of the hydrological and water-ecological indicators of the natural complexes which imply abandoning any activity in areas of particularly high value and highly sensitive to impacts, and the possibility of developing recreational activities in sustainable areas, subject to environmental protection measures.

The distribution of major and trace chemical elements in the snow water of the cover has been studied in the near-shore zone of the settlement of Listvyanka (South Baikal) along Baikal high road. It is established that the elemental composition of snow is governed by local natural and anthropogenic pollution sources influencing, to a different extent, the sites of the study area. The study did not reveal any influence of the pollutants air transport from the Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo industrial hub ac cording to indicative elements is not detected. The main pollution factors are the roadbed, exhaust gases, smoke emissions from boilers and ovens in private houses. The markers of pollution sources can be arbitrarily divided into eight groups. According to the degree of mineralization and elemental composition, the samples used in the study are divided onto three types: clean snow (on the Lake Baikal shore at the beginning and at the end of the settlement more than 10 m from the roadbed), moderately polluted snow (along the entire length of the settlement 10-40 m from the roadbed) and dirty snow in the immediate vicinity of the roadbed (less than 10 m) and/or of the roadside cafe. The maximum contribution from chemical elements in the polluted melt waters to the mean annual balance of the surface subsurface flow is calculated. It is shown that the input of toxic elements and of elements favoring eutrophication with polluted melt waters is present in insignificant amounts when compared with the surface and subsurface flow; hence, it cannot serve as the determining factor for the emergence of the ecological crisis at Baikal in this area.

On the basis of comparing old maps, satellite imagery and archival material, interviewing local residents and doing fieldwork, we reconstructed the history of agricultural development of the small river Kud’ma basin on the Volga Upland over the last 150-200 years and assessed its influence on the transformation and modern dynamics of small river channels. We developed the zoning scheme for the basin according to three types of anthropogenic impact on the channels, the directedness of vertical deformations and to corresponding channel transformations. It is shown that the character of channel transformation depends on the natural differences of the rivers within the basin as well as on the specific practices of using the different-order rivers and on the character of development of different parts of the basin as a whole. It is found that the largest impacts on the channels that led to a change of the morphodynamic type of channel and to the transformation of the floodplain to the terrace occurred in the middle reaches of the main rivers, Kud’ma and Ozerka: a large-scale channel rectification was organized on the Kud’ma river, whereas the channel incision on the Ozerka river was caused by draining the ponds in the 1930s. Changes in the channel mor phodynamics was also manifest in the character of straightening of meanders and the formation of specific lake-like expansions at their heads. A serious transformation occurred in the channels of the smallest rivers in the developed part of the basin which were affected by siltation. Feedbacks occurring in the case of impacts on the river are demonstrated: channel rectification with the purpose of draining swampy floodplains for agriculture leads, because of the channel incision, to a shortage of water re sources and dictates a need for land irrigation.