Unique plant communities that are com plementary to the cretaceous substrate tend to be formed on the cretaceous outcrops of southern European Russia. They are characterized by a wide spread of calciphilous species of higher plants, including endemic ones. Under these conditions, stable plant aggregations are created by the species that are able to populate substrates being toxic to most plants. The study was conducted in order to examine the nitrogen status o f soils and sub-soils under endemic calciphilous species: M atthiola fragrans Bunge, Hyssopus cretaceus Dubjan. and Andorsace koso-poljanskii Ovcz. The research tasks included a comparative analysis of the dynamic changes in the content of organic m atter carbon, total nitrogen, easily hydrolysable nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and nitrification capacity of soils and sub-soils in the course of vital processes of the species under study. It has been found that during the ten-year period of the experiment for M. fragrans Bunge, H. cretaceus Dubjan significantly increases the num ber of particles of <1 mm 594 ARTICLE INFORMATION:

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Federal and regional centre for aerospace and surface monitoring of the objects and natural resources, ABSTRACTThe multi-year geobotanical studies have shown that in the south-west of the Central Russian Upland the fl oristic composition of gully ecosystems includes 274 genera, which are combined into 65 families. The species from 3 families: Asteraceae Dumort., Fabaceae Lindl. and Poaceae Barnh. take the lead in the taxon hierarchy. The value of the generic coeffi cient, which is calculated by the number of species per genus, is quite signifi cant and is equal to 1.81. It has been established that Fabaceae Lindl. species have extensive presentation (it comes second place in the fi rst triad of families). Among Fabaceae species, a particular importance is given to wild related cultural species, which have high biological, and resource value by a mix of morphological and qualitative characteristics and which are potential selection sources for improvement of various economically useful features. The most striking example include species of the Medicago: Medicago sativa L. genus and the Medicago var Mart. hybrid genus. The M. sativa L. and M. varia Mart. coenopopulations in gully mouths are the most complete and they often have continuity of species distribution by age groups. It has been found that any forms, which act as carriers of multidimensionality recessive mutation, i.e. mf-mutation, have a 203 high degree of occurrence in local populations. With seed renewal, the proportion of species with mf-mutation is from 5 to 55% in families (the offspring of the fi rst plant). The M. sativa L. and M. varia Mart. forms, which have been identifi ed by us in the natural habitats of gully geocomplexes, have a number of valuable selection crop-related characteristics: high seed production, good leaf coverage and high protein content.

The results of a study of the physicochemical parameters of fallow soils in the ancient Bosporos chora (Kerch Peninsula) are presented in the article. The most long-lasting indicators of agropedogenesis are associated with the water resistance of aggregates and the composition of organic matter, as was found.

Basin territorial structures are defined as unified natural and anthropogenic systems, since the movement of matter, energy and information occurs naturally from the divide to the valley line of the river valley within them. Considering the global issues of soil degradation in watersheds and depletion of water resources, some regional experience in the design and implementation of soil and water protection of cultivated lands as part of the concept of the basin nature management and implementation of the program for environmental rehabilitation of rivers and water bodies is presented. The statement that it is necessary to develop a long-term strategy for the consistent arrangement of basin geosystems from a divide of catchments to valley lines of a fluvial network in the conditions of a crisis situation with the use of soil, land and water resources is justified.