Agroforestry-Enhancing Typification of Agricultural Territories as a Basic Condition for Increasing the Efficiency of Protective Afforestation

Abstract

Upgrading the scale of agricultural production and the effectiveness of protective afforestation is based on the strategy of identifying similar crop production conditions. The given research identifies the territories that require different approaches to forest reclamation. The research is based on the use of remote data as well as geoinformation research methods. The area for investigation is the territory of the right bank of the Khoper River in the Volgograd region. This territory is characterized by the distribution of the most fertile soils in the world, southern chernozems and typical chernozems. The study area is a long-standing historical center of agricultural production, and the task of protecting and increasing the fertility of cultivated soils is very urgent for this territory. The investigation of the catchment areas for identifying spatial patterns is an important methodological aspect of the present research. The studies were carried out within the network of catchments in ravines and gullies. The parameters of the areas of each catchment were used to calculate the specific indicators characterizing the territory. Mapping the territory of the research area made it possible to identify the range of parameters which characterize the erosion process as well as the parameters that cause its development. The studies of the interdependence of land structure and relief parameters made it possible to identify the processes for evaluating the agroecological state of the territories and their typification. These parameters include: erosive dissection, km/km2; the density of ravine tops, units/km2; the area of arable land in the catchment located on slopes with a steepness of more than 3°, %; and the nonforested area of slopes with a steepness of more than 8°. The values of indicators estimated on the basis of statistical scoring procedures became the basis for the allocation of four groups of conditional agroecological states of territories: normal, risk, crisis, and disaster. These groups differ in the set of reclamation measures used and their focus and scope.