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Preserved Sections of Steppes as the Basis for the Future Ecological Framework of Belgorod Oblast

  • APPLIED PROBLEMS OF ARID LAND DEVELOPMENT
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Abstract

Belgorod oblast is a region of ancient economic development with the highest level of agricultural land use in Russia and, accordingly, the highest level of anthropogenic transformation of zonal vegetation and soils (chernozems). Despite all of the efforts of recent years to improve the conservation of territorial nature in the region, all categories of specially protected territories make up only 1.8%, which is one of the lowest rates in the Russian Federation. Steppe plots occupy less than 10% of the area of all protected areas, i.e., 0.2% of the region’s area, which cannot serve as the basis for the conservation of steppe biodiversity and the formation of the ecological framework of the region, where the zonal type of vegetation is steppes. The article provides a historical analysis of the transformation of the region’s steppes, the results of an inventory with remote sensing methods of the preserved sections of the steppes, assessment of the potential of their flora for the development of restoration succession, and the effectiveness for preservation of the steppe biodiversity of the regional network of specially protected areas and the formation of an ecological framework. It is shown that more than 700 identified sites with preserved steppe vegetation (about 47 000 ha) are small-contoured and fragmented and are located on the nonarable and strongly eroded slopes of draws and narrows. Without special events, they are not able to become the basis of the ecological framework. Approaches and methods of stimulating the restoration of the steppes on post-agrogenic and technogenic lands of the region are proposed.

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Funding

The article was prepared on the following topics: State assignment no. 0148209-0007 of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “Assessment of physical-geographical, hydrological and biotic changes in the environment and their consequences for the creation of the basics of sustainable nature management”; the project of the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 19-17-00056, “Transformation of soils and soil cover under the influence of forest belts in agrolandscapes of the south of the Central Russian Upland” (observations of the distribution of woody vegetation from forest belts and woodlands to fallow and steppe plots with chernozems); and the Program of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “Social-humanitarian aspects of sustainable development and strategic breakthrough of Russia” (subprogram “The spatial restructuring of Russia taking into account the geopolitical, socioeconomic and geoenvironmental challenges”).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 109017, Moscow, Russia

    A. A. Tishkov, E. A. Belonovskaya, S. V. Titova & N. G. Tsarevskaya

  2. Belgorod State National Research University, 308015, Belgorod, Russia

    A. A. Tishkov & Yu. G. Chendev

  3. Central Black Earth State Nature Reserve, 305528, Zapovednoe post, Kursk oblast, Russia

    N. I. Zolotukhin

Authors
  1. A. A. Tishkov
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  2. E. A. Belonovskaya
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  3. N. I. Zolotukhin
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  4. S. V. Titova
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  5. N. G. Tsarevskaya
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  6. Yu. G. Chendev
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Correspondence to A. A. Tishkov, N. I. Zolotukhin or Yu. G. Chendev.

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Conflict of interest. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Statement on animal welfare. This article does not contain any studies involving animals performed by any of the authors.

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Translated by S. Avodkova

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Tishkov, A.A., Belonovskaya, E.A., Zolotukhin, N.I. et al. Preserved Sections of Steppes as the Basis for the Future Ecological Framework of Belgorod Oblast. Arid Ecosyst 10, 36–43 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096120010114

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