The soil cover of the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the East European Plain is characterized by diverse soil combinations revealed during large-scale and detailed soil mapping against the background of a traditional zonal sequence of dominant automorphic soils alternating from the north to the south and clearly displayed on small-scale soil maps. The composition, configuration and functioning of particular soil cover patterns are determined by the soil forming factors acting within a given area. The elementary soil areas (detailed scale) and elementary soil cover patterns maps (large scale) of the Central Russian, Kalach, and Volga Uplands are created by both traditional and digital soil mapping methods. Low-contrasting soil combinations with the background Haplic Chernozems (Loamic or Clayic, Pachic) alternating with zooturbated Haplic Chernozems (Loamic or Clayic, Pachic) on convex elements of the microtopography and Luvic Chernozems (Loamic or Clayic, Pachic) on concave elements of the microtopography prevails under conditions of thick clay loamy parent materials and free drainage. Under conditions of shallow embedding by low-permeable clayey sediments, the soil cover includes Chernozems or Chernic Phaeozems with stagnic features in some part of the soil profile or even Mollic Stagnosols. The presence of shrink-swell clays of different ages leads to the formation of Bathyvertic Chernozems, Vertic Chernozems, Vertic Chernic Phaeozems and/or Pellic Vertisols. The presence of soluble salts in the parent material leads to the development of solonetzic soil complexes consisting of Protosodic or Sodic Chernozems and different types of Solonetzes.
The spatial structure of the habitat for plant communities based on soil functions in virgin forest-steppe of the Central Russian Upland is the focus of this study. The objectives include the identification of the leading factors of soil function variety and to determine the spatial heterogeneity of the soil function. A detailed topographic survey was carried out on a key site (35 hectares), 157 soil, and 34 geobotanical descriptions were made. The main factor of soil and plant cover differentiation is the redistribution of soil moisture along the microrelief. Redistributed runoff value was modelled in SIMWE and used as a tool for spatial prediction of soils due to their role in a habitat for plant communities' functional context. The main methods of the study are the multidimensional scaling and discriminant analysis. We model the composition of plant communities (accuracy is 95%) and Reference Soil Group (accuracy is 88%) due to different soil moisture conditions. There are two stable soil habitat types: mesophytic communities on the Phaeozems (with additional water runoff more than 80 mm) and xerophytic communities on Chernozems (additional runoff less than 55 mm). A transitional type corresponded to xero-mesophytic communities on the Phaeozems with 55-80 mm additional redistributed runoff value. With acceptable accuracy, the habitat for natural plant communities based on soil function model predicts the position of contrastingly different components of biota in relation to their soil moisture requirements within the virgin forest-steppe of the Central Russian Upland.(including organic carbon and nutrients concentration), and moisture characteristics are the key properties for the plant's growth [4,[9][10][11][15][16][17]. The connection between soil properties and plant parameters are implemented in the global and regional ecological scales [18][19][20][21].Our study site is located in the virgin forest-steppe of East European plain. The climatic conditions of the forest-steppe with favorable water-air and thermal regime contribute to the formation of the most fertile soils among all the natural land areas [22]. However, the diversity of edaphic conditions determines the wide variation of soil moisture and aeration regimes and, as a result, variety in plant species composition. We suppose that the soil moisture is the leading factor controlling species composition in the virgin forest-steppe, as it has been qualitatively shown [23].The aim of our work was the digital mapping of the habitat for natural plant communities' soil function, soil moisture conditions and related plant species composition in virgin forest-steppe landscapes of V.V. Alekhin Central Chernozem State Reserve (Kursk region, Russia). The objectives were to: (1) quantitatively characterize the relationship of the water regime and soil properties, the composition of plant species; (2) define the different habitat types; (3) create and verify the habitat for a plant communities map. We characterized the soil forming factors features for each se...
Digital mapping was applied for a key site located at the Southern Cis-Ural region near Ufa city (the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia). The digital soil map (DSM) was created using the open-source GIS software packages and compared to a conventional (CSM) one. As input parameters, we used standard morphometric values of the topography and field descriptions of soils, including the authors’ data. The DSM was created at the same scale (1:25,000) as the CSM, and soils of different classes were grouped according to the principle of genetic homogeneity and regional agroecological value. Comparing DSM and CSM showed several significant differences in the position, areas, and boundaries of hydromorphic soils and chernozems. The DSM has advantages over CSM at estimating smaller soil areas (areals) and their boundaries, in particular, on elevated topography elements (hills and steep slopes) and upper links of the erosion network (small dry valleys, hollows, and gullies). On the other hand, fluvial soils are mapped rather poorly by the digital approach, and CSM is more appropriate for such soils’ areals. The highest discrepancy is confined to the areas of eroded soils and fluvisols (15% and 12% of total area, respectively) due to significant differences in DSM and CSM approaches for such soil groups. We suppose that the digital method is effective and suitable for the Cis-Ural region, despite 57% soil taxa (types) prediction accuracy and the complexity of the territory by its ruggedness, erosion, and suffusion processes. The implementation and further use of digital mapping methods increase the quality of work, reduce its cost and terms in the region.
<p>The modern Russian agroecological landscape evaluation is based on identification of areas with specific hydrology, soil and terrain constraints to crop, that are named as agroecological groups of lands. Soil quality of the lands is characterized by a combination of conditions ensuring sustainable crop yields and determining the ecological functions and stability of agrolandscapes. The main differences in soil quality in the forest-steppe of the East European Plain are due to soil erosion and precipitation redistribution by the topography elements. If the erosion processes are comprehensively studied by the world scientific community, then the influence of differences in soil moisture reserves, its spatial heterogeneity and potential impact on the crops productivity is not sufficiently considered by Russian specialists. In this regard, large-scale studies were carried out at two key areas: the Central Russian Upland (Kursk region) and the Oka-Don Lowland (Tambov region). The studies included conventional mapping with identification of agroecological groups of lands and their quality assessment using GIS and statistical analysis. To determine the spatial heterogeneity of the moisture conditions, the SIMWE simulation model was applied. This model calculates the precipitation redistribution by the topography elements using digital elevation model and several input parameters. It was find, that the territory of the Central Russian Upland is characterized by normal moisture conditions, leaching water regime, silty-loamy soil texture. Redistribution of precipitation occurs without delay, as a result of which most of the territory does not experience overmoistening and the soils are highly productive with moisture reserves in the top meter layer up to 150 mm. The spatial structure of soil water capacity in a meter soil layer was determined by the regression analysis method of the measured soil moisture and calculated runoff using the SIMWE model. It was determined that the intra-landscape variation of moisture capacity as an indicator of soil quality for agriculture is associated with the topography of the interfluves and the erosion. The second key area, the Oka-Don Lowland, is characterized by a lowland topography and clay soil texture, and excess of moisture in soils in almost all years. Several agroecological groups of lands with significantly different in soil water capacity. To determine the spatial structure of soil water capacity, the SIMWE model was also used, that showed a high intra-landscape soils diversity, that is due to a flat topography of interfluve with lots of depressions. The soils of drained interfluves with a short-term overmoistening and a groundwater level below 6 meters are of the highest quality. In addition, hydromorphic lands with groundwater above 6 meters and average annual moisture reserves in top meter soil layer up to 300 mm are distinguished. They occupy about 72% of the total area of &#8203;&#8203;the key site. Such lands are suitable for cultivation of perennial grasses, winter wheat, soybeans, sunflowers and others.</p><p>This study is supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant &#8470;19-29-05277.</p>
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