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

摘要

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.