Academic literature on the topic 'Grass River Natural Area (Organization)'

The paper presents the results of studies of macro- and micromorphological differentiation of the surface humus-accumulative horizon (A) of forest soils of the steppe zone of Ukraine. The study groups included typical soil profiles of natural ravine, wall (slope of the river bank) and floodplain forests, and chernozem under grassy and artificial tree vegetation within Prisamarya Dniprovsky (Novomoskovsk district, Dnipropetrovsk region). In the macromorphological study, the method of field description of soils recommended by FAO (2012) was used, the characteristics of microstructural soil organization were described in G. Stoops (2003). The differentiation of the surface humus-accumulation horizon (A) of the investigated soils is diagnosed after changes in a number of macro- and micromorphological characteristics of the structural state-morphology and aggregate size, total porosity, void morphology, and addition density. The analysis of morphological characteristics reveals both communities the features of differentiation of the humus-accumulative horizon, and certain differences between the soils of natural forests and Calcic Chernozem. The surface humus-accumulative horizon of Calcic Chernozem, both under grassy and under artificial tree vegetation, is differentiated into two sub-horizons A1 and A2. In the Voronic Luvic Chernozem of natural ravine, Luvic Phaeozem of the pristine (slope of the river bank) forests and Mollic Fluvisol of floodplain forests, the surface horizon is differentiated into three sub-horizons – A1, A2, A3. At the macromorphological level, of the surface humus-accumulative horizon there are synchronous changes in the main characteristics of the structural state - the set and the dominant types of structure, the prevailing dimensions of aggregates within the framework of one type of structure, the total porosity, the diversity of the morphology of the voids, the relative participation of individual types of voids in the formation of pore space, density shape. At the micromorphological level, differentiation is diagnosed on the basis of changes: a set and the relative ratio of different types of microstructure; the ratio of the dominant types of voids and the total area of apparent porosity; morphology of aggregates (shape, size, degree of accomodation of surfaces, intra-aggregate porosity) within a single type of microstructure. The more complex differentiation of the surface humus-accumulative horizon of forest soils in comparison with Calcic Chernozem is due to the greater thickness of the horizon, which causes a significant compaction in the lower direction within the surface horizon and more intensive biological activity (especially soil meso- and microfauna).

The approaches to the use of catena method of studying the diversity of soil animal communities’ arena landscape of the Dnieper River Valley (within the natural reserve “Dnieper-Orelsky” using phytoindication estimation have been developed in the present article. Soil animals ecomorphes have been verified on the basis of main trends variability of environmental conditions which evaluated by means of phytoindication approaches. Monitoring polygon situated in the north-eastern part of the natural reserve "Dnieper-Orelsky". The width of the polygon is 3260 m, height – 2850 m, its total area is 930 hectares. Inside the polygon we selected some five plots: on the slope of the sand dunes at the border the sandy steppe and Acer tataricum shrub; on the slope of the Northern exposure of the Orlova valley in Acer tataricum oak forest with Dáctylis glomeráta; in terrace near the flood plain on the border with the lower part of the slope, in elm-black poplar forest with Glechóma hederácea; in the waterlogged tributary of river Protoch on the border of the marsh and forest ecosystems; in river Protoch in grass community, in a gradient from the marsh community to steppe meadows. Each plot was represented by 105 squares of size 3×3 m. Squares arranged in 7 contiguous rows of 15 squares in each. Plot size was 21×45 m. Big side plot was located along the visually discernible gradient terrain topography and vegetation cover. In each square we made a description of the vegetation with the assessment of the projective cover with a lag of 10%. In the center of each square we sampled soil of 0.25×0.25 m from which the soil macroinvertebrates have been extracted by hand sorting. The ordination of mesopedobionts communities has been applied to multidimensional scaling procedure based on metrics of Bray-Curtis with provisional data on transformation according to Hellinger. The phytoindication estimation of the environmental regimes have been found to be statistically significant predictors of multidimensional scales that obtained after ordination of mesopedobionts communities. Dimension 1 can be explained by edaphotop nutrient status, dimension 2 can be explained by edaphotop humidity, dimension 3 may be explained by soil aeration, dimension 4 may be explained by quantity of carbonates in soil. Dimensions 5 and 6 have a complex factor nature which is difficult to interpret meaningfully. Environmental assessment regimes using phyto-indicative scales enabled set the value of soil carbonate content and aeration in structuring of soil animals communities. The obtained result makes reasonable provision of new ecomorphes of soil animals such as aèromorph and carbonatomorph. Aèromorphes are ecological group that combines soil animals, preferring similar condition of soil aeration, among which are highlighted in aerophyles, sub-aerophyles, hemiaerofobes and subaerofobes. Carbonatomorphes are ecological group that combines soil animals, preferring similar condition of carbonates content in soil, among which are highlighted in carbonatofobes, akarbonatophyles, hemicarbonatophyles, carbonatophyles and hyper-carbonatophyles. Classic catena approach for biogeocenotic and landscape diversity investigation have been supplemented by the assessment of the ecological regimes through phytoindication and ecomorphic analysis of vegetation. Ordinates of ecological regimes are the gradients of variation of soil animal communities. Information and valuable markers of vegetation (phytoindication scale and ecomorphes) can be used as training variables to assess the indicator properties of soil animal communities. Ecomorphes of soil animals reflect the main aspects of the structural organization of their communities and may serve as valuable indicators of the properties and behaviors of soil as environment of living organisms.

Aim. To select the maximum variety of landscape structural units from the watershed to the Sintashta river. To determine the boundaries of the recommended specially protected area.Material and Methods. The Sintashta protected area is currently composed of tracts which only represent a small part of steppe landscape diversity: bushy tracts and forb-grass floodplain and part of the herb-grass steppe terraces. Based on field physical geography description and cartography using GIS systems, the maximum variety of tracts from the watershed to the river in the territory within which lies the Sintashta archaeological monument complex (the cluster section of the Arkaim reserve) was identified.Results. The course of separate tracts that characterise the steppe landscape from the watershed to the Sintashta River comprises: inclined-undulating banks with gullies and sagebrush-mixed grass steppe, lowland forb-fescue steppe with birch and pine groves, plains grass grassland bushed grassland, flat interfleuve with feather grass-forb steppe with pine and birch groves.Conclusion. The territory of the Sintashta site is unique in its natural and historical content. Preserving it in the future as a territorial system with its enclosing landscapes and cultural monuments will allow a comprehensive approach to the issues of reconstruction and preservation of the natural environment and the understanding of the economic structure of ancient societies. In ordere to preserve the historical and cultural complex in inseparable connection with the natural landscape, it is recommended that selected key tracts be incorporated in the protected area.

Based on long-term informational and analytical materials of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Weather and Climate reference portal and stationary meteorological stations of the RSE Kazhydromet located in the catchments of the Ili River basin, which cover the Almaty region (Narynkol, Tekes, Sumbe, Dobyn, Aydarly, Kapshagay, Usharal, Bakanas, Kokzhide, Kuigan) of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Tekes, Xinyuan, Tokkuztara, Yamata, Kuldzh) of the People’s Republic of China and using the law of geographic vertical zoning, the energy resources of river basins and groundwater, the climatic potential of natural systems that characterize the heat and moisture supply of natural landscapes and ecological and hydrogeochemical indicators showing the direction and intensity of the hydrogeochemical process on a spatial scale, which allowed for geomorphological zoning, are determined catchments of the Ili river basin, characterizing the natural functions of the river basin, to have runoff and environment formation, which are the basis for environmental management and environmental engineering.

Selected the lower Tarim River in 2000 and 2010 TM / ETM data source, the use of human - machine interaction visual interpretation of data obtained by two interpretation map, interpret the results based on two data LUCC trends in variation analysis, the results show that: in the past 10 years, the Tarim River increased 28735 ha cultivated land (hm2), the natural increase of 25846 hectares of vegetation (hm2). Forest land was slowly decreasing trend, the decrease in the main area into open woodland and urban settlements; high, shrub and grass cover showed a degree of degradation. Conclusion: The study area in recent years has woodland, open forest land reduction and degradation shows the degradation of habitat area, with the increase of human reclamation area, the regional water consumption will significantly increase, which is lower Tarim river water to a certain pressure.

The article presents the results of the study of the landscape structure of the upper part of the Lazeshchyna basin within the limits of Chornogory. The tracts, streets and highlands were the objects of mapping. The research was carried out according to the methodology of Field Landscape Research by G. P. Miller (1974) with the wide use of literary sources, topographic maps and stock materials (geological, geomorphological maps, maps of Quaternary deposits), aerophotographic and cosmic images, and the ArcGis 10 software environment. Rich landscape features of the study area form six high altitudes: a mild convex denudation alpine-subalpine highlands with white-and-blueberries wilderness and meadow grass on mountain-meadow-brown and mountain-peat and brown soils; sharply concave long-glacial-erosional subalpine highlands with formations of deciduous and coniferous shrubs on mountain-peat and brown soils in a complex with rocky deposits and outcrops of indigenous rocks; mild convex denudation cold forested middle class with the domination of spruce forests on burozems; old-glacial-accumulative wooded middle mountains with the domination of spruce forests on brown soils; steep-eroded erosion-denudation forest of middle with domination of cyprinid and fir-beech- spruce-wood forests on brownfields; terraced bottom of river valleys with cold, humid climates and rivers of flood regime, with formation of fires, gray alder and secondary grass meadows on sod-brown soils and burozems. The morphological structure of highlands is expressed by twenty landscape streams and one hundred and thirty-two tracts. Established that the rough part of the main ridge of Chornogory between the peaks of Hoverla and Petros belongs to the high-altitude area of the miteconvex denudation forest middle middle with the domination of spruce forests on the brownfields, and not to the high-altitude area of the miteconvex denudation Alpine subalpine highlands with white-and-blueberries and wild mushrooms on mountain-meadow-brown-earth and mountain-t'orfyano-brown soils, as previously thought. For the first time, for the territory of the Ukrainian Carpathians, within the terraced bottoms of the river valleys with cool climate and rivers of flood regime, with the formation of feldspar, gray alder and secondary grass meadows on sod-brown soils and burozems, two new rows were discovered and encoded: the convex surfaces of low ridges composed of proluvial (muddy) deposits, represented by the depths, gravel and loam with crushed stone, with moisturite on rubbers; and the surfaces of the terraces are made in the water-glacial sediments represented by boulders, loams and sunsets and boulders and sand-pebble alluvium in the rivers of the year with the formation of fir and green alder on brown soils.

Floods of meadows in the delta of the river Nemunas contribute to the deposition and retention of sediments and nutrient that would otherwise deposit in the Curonian Lagoon. In grassland area of the Nemunas delta the formation of alluvial soil occurs according to the flood dynamic rules: water discharging into the valley leaves suspended sediments on the soil surface. By mathematical modelling it was established that about 35% of suspended sediments inflow deposited there. Due to sand particles deposited during the study period (1950-1991), the natural river bank levee rose by 0.3 m. Fine clay and silt particles deposited uniformly within the entire model area and formed a 4-6 mm thick layer there. It contained about 50-60 t/ha of silt deposits. The valley soils were naturally fertilized with 250 t of potassium, 950 t of phosphorus, 38,000 t of calcium, and even 147,000 t of organic matter saturated with nitrogen. Certain amount of heavy metals also deposited there. The deposition process has not yet been adequately investigated under the conditions of flow bed covered by grass. It was established that grass cover intensified the sediment deposition in the floodplain. Considering calculation results and measurement data, the process of suspended sediment deposition was analysed and new formulas were derived. It was established that in order to increase sedimentation in the valley, it would be necessary to increase water discharge overflowing from river bed into the delta valley.

The desert-oasis ecotone, as a crucial natural barrier, maintains the stability of oasis agricultural production and protects oasis habitat security. This paper investigates the dynamic evolution of the desert-oasis ecotone in the Tarim River Basin and predicts the near-future land-use change in the desert-oasis ecotone using the cellular automata–Markov (CA-Markov) model. Results indicate that the overall area of the desert-oasis ecotone shows a shrinking trend (from 67,642 km2 in 1990 to 46,613 km2 in 2015) and the land-use change within the desert-oasis ecotone is mainly manifested by the conversion of a large amount of forest and grass area into arable land. The increasing demand for arable land for groundwater has led to a decline in the groundwater level, which is an important reason for the habitat deterioration in the desert-oasis ecotone. The rising temperature and drought have further exacerbated this trend. Assuming the current trend in development without intervention, the CA-Markov model predicts that by 2030, there will be an additional 1566 km2 of arable land and a reduction of 1151 km2 in forested area and grassland within the desert-oasis ecotone, which will inevitably further weaken the ecological barrier role of the desert-oasis ecotone and trigger a growing ecological crisis.

The large-scale landscape maps necessity in developing projects and proposals for agriculture, forestry land-use and erosion protection were justified. Natural conditions of land-use in Nova Syniava community in Stara Syniava district in Khmelnytskyi region were described and analyses of land structure were made. Accordingly, land structure is characterized by ecologically destabilizing lands, including arable lands, lands that were withdrawn from agriculture production and forestry (outbuildings, houses, roads, open-casts, exterior use lands) are prevailing. They cover 80,6 % (in particular, arable lands – 71,8 %) of total community lands. And, vice versa, ecologically stabilizing lands (gardens, pastures, grasslands, shrubs, forest belts, forests, swamps, water covered lands) cover a small percentage – 19,4 of total research area. Therefore, erosive soils cover a significant percentage – 51,3 % of total area. Soil erosion caused decreasing of soil fertility and yields of agriculture. The average weighted losses of humus in arable horizon of soils (0–30 cm) compared with full-profile standard analogues are 0,5–0,6 %. First step of developing sustainable ecological landscape systems were justified by using a principle of land resource restoration and strengthening of their self-regulation through increasing the area of ecologically stabilized lands by low productivity lands and by their location with taking into consideration a complex morphological structure of landscape systems. Landscape systems of research area were classified by genesis and type of their economic use. Arable lands should cover no more than 52,4 % of the total community area. In particular, 16,1 % is recommended to use for field grain-steam tilled crop rotations and cultivating all agriculture crops of this zone by using intensive agriculture systems and the widespread introduction of their ecological links; 27,9 % is recommended to use for field grain-steam tilled crop rotations and cultivating all agriculture crops of this zone by using ecological systems of agriculture provided soil cultivation, sowing and caring for crops according to the elevation line directions. 8,4% is recommended to use for field grain-grass or grass-grain soil protected crop rotations with total exclusion of row crops. 38,8 % of total community land area should be covered by perennial plants (6,6 %), grasslands (17,0 %), shrubs and forest belts (0,31 %), forests (11,7 %), swamps (1,09 %), lands covered by water (1,2 %). Other 8,8 % are covered by outbuildings and houses (1,2 %), roads (2,0 %), opencasts (0,8 %) and exterior use lands (4,8 %). Key words: forest steppe, landscape systems, land-use, lands, crop rotations.

The ongoing degradation of the water quality of central Maharashtra’s basaltic aquifer is of great concern for different authorities and agencies involved in the water sector in the Maharashtra, India. The Kham river, which is one of the major tributaries of the Godavari river, receives all domestic and industrial waste water from the Aurangabad city. The river, with no natural flow in the dry season, is extensively used for irrigation. In order to evaluate the quality of river and groundwater in the study area, eight river water and forty groundwater samples along right and left bank of the Kham river were collected and analyzed for various parameters. Physical and chemical parameters of the river and groundwater such as pH, TDS, EC, SO4, NO3 and heavy metals like Pb, Cr, Cd, Zn, and Cu were determined. The results show that the river and groundwater of the area is generally unfit for domestic uses. Most of the physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals in the river and groundwater samples have higher value than the World Health Organization (WHO, 2006) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS, 2003) guidelines.

<em>Abstract</em>.—Lakes are very important resources for fisheries production in China. The total area of lakes for commercial fisheries in China reaches 1.02 million ha, which accounts for 18% of the total freshwater aquaculture area. China has gained rich experience developing lake commercial fisheries over the past 60 years. In the 1950s, lake fisheries were primarily focused on the capture of natural aquatic animal species. With the success of the artificial reproduction of the four domestic carps (Silver Carp <em>Hypophthalmichthys molitrix</em>, Bighead Carp <em>H. nobilis </em>(also known as <em>Aristichthys nobilis</em>), Grass Carp <em>Ctenopharyngodon idella</em>, and Black Carp <em>Mylopharyngodon piceus</em>), stock-enhanced fisheries became the main production method in the 1960s and 1970s. During this period, large-scale resources investigations all over China were conducted, some stocking and management theories that were based on primary production developed, and fish production potentials for lakes were determined. The united fishing method was created during this period, which significantly increased the capture efficiency in large lakes. In the 1980s, semi-intensive and intensive aquaculture methods, including application of fertilizers and artificial feeds, cage culture, and pen culture, were applied to lake and reservoir fisheries, which substantially increased fishery production and also the income of fishermen. However, intensive aquaculture in lakes has caused serious environmental problems, such as ecosystem degradation, exhaustion of natural fisheries resources, decreased biodiversity, and increased eutrophication. Sustainable development of fisheries in lakes of the Yangtze River basin has been facing unprecedented challenges, both to the environment and to human society. More and more attention has focused on the balance between fisheries development and environmental protection in the past two decades. Ecofishery is a possible solution to this potential conflict. As a strategy for lake fisheries reform, it is suggested that use of natural food resources in lakes should be more efficient than present, and lake fisheries should be developed based on ecosystem restorations.