Protective forest plantations are an integral part of agroforestry landscapes that serve as an ecological frame and contribute to the expanded reproduction of soil fertility. The problem of assessing the actual protective forest cover of territories is relevant. The solution of this issue allows you to identify the need, sequence and volume of forest reclamation work. The problem of mapping and assessing the protective forest cover of territories is closely related to the tasks of identifying the optimal forest cover of territories and substantiating approaches to the allocation of spatial-territorial complexes. The boundaries of the identified contours directly affect the values of specific indicators, which are the basis for the gradation of the need for forest reclamation work. The conducted studies demonstrate the possibilities of using the QGIS software package for the purpose of assessing the protective forest cover of the territory. The interpretation and creation of a cartographic model of protective forest plantations of the study area was carried out using QuickBird satellite images. The assessment was made on the basis of the calculation of specific indicators within the boundaries of landscapes for the territory of the Ilovlinsky District of the Volgograd region. As a standard for comparing the studied indicators, indicators of the protective forest cover of the “Kachalino” pilot farm were used. The application of the landscape-typological approach to the identification of territorial complexes made it possible to approach the issue of assessing the protective forest cover of territories in a more differentiated way than when using administrative boundaries. As a result of the study, landscape areas were identified, the protective forest cover of which is close to the normative, as well as those areas that need agroforestry measures. Cartographic work carried out in the QGIS software package confirms its effectiveness and allows us to recommend its use in agroforestry research related to the parallel application of various approaches to the allocation of territorial complexes.

The present study is aimed at developing and improving approaches to assessment of the degree of soil erosion. The transition from verbal to digital form of determining the color of soils expands the possibilities of using this morphological feature. It allows determining the thickness of soil horizons based on the data of laboratory analysis of the color of soil samples. The methodological basis of the study is represented with the index method or the method of field standardization of territories. According to this method, the main contour of the soil is characterized by a full-profile soil pit, and soil changes caused by the relief near the main pit are estimated by changes in the characteristics of soil layers. Measurement of the latter was carried out in the course of the laboratory analysis of soil samples selected by soil drilling. As a result of the study, the soil color coordinates were determined in the CAI Lab system. Their values correspond to the soil samples of the southern chernozem taken at a depth of 1 meter every 10 centimeters. The linear nature of interconnection between the index of organic carbon content in the soil samples and the corresponding values of the lightness index in the CAI Lab color model was confirmed. The soil samples with varying degrees of erosion were identified in a research object: soils of watersheds unaffected by erosion processes; moderately eroded soils of hollows exposed to water erosion; drift soils of the mouth of hollows.

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.

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