Environmental and landscape significance of steppe mega-projects

Abstract

For the development of fundamental bases of strategy of rational steppe land use and its realization we analyzed the most significant steppe megaprojects - "Stalin's plan to transform the nature of forest steppe and steppe", the Virgin Lands Campaign of 1954-1963, Agrarian Reform of the 1990s. Both specific consequences of each project and their cumulative impact determining the modern appearance of steppe landscapes and their agro-ecological problems are established. The Altai Territory, primarily the Kulunda steppe, is considered a special arena of megaprojects in the steppes of Siberia, bearing all the features of the old-developed region, where the most positive effect of these projects was achieved. The interrelation between the main problems of modern steppe land use and the results of the considered megaprojects has been presented. The main problems of agrarian steppe land use have been revealed. Taking into account modern tendencies of development of agrarian and industrial complex three most probable scenarios of development of steppe agriculture landscapes are considered. They are neo-wildland, stagnation, and optimization scenario with adaptation of agricultural lands structure to natural-climatic conditions and requirements of market conditions, with concentration of intensive agriculture on the best lands and transformation of low-productive lands into long-term managed steppe fodder lands of adaptive animal husbandry.

Consequences of the Virgin Land Megaproject: Virgin Land Space and Its Development

“…At the moment, large-scale studies dedicated to the 70th anniversary of this project are being completed. The research is based on: fundamental ideas about the history, essence and consequences of virgin campaigns in the grasslands of the Holarctic of the 19th-20th centuries; observations of the realization of the potential for the restoration of steppe ecosystems in the 21st century and systematization of its regional manifestations; information about the cores of virgin and secondary steppe ecosystems; ideas about the dynamics of bioclimatic potential and soil fertility, technological equipment of agriculture and prospects for the introduction of modern naturelike technologies; notion of trends in the status of steppe life and diversity, cooperation on cross-border Russian-Kazakhstan steppe protected areas, the achievements of the project to reintroduce Przewalski's horses in the Orenburg region, the potential of the growing integration of the Volga-Ural populations of saiga antelope in the steppe modern agrolandscape [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

Diversity of Silica-Scaled Chrysophytes in the Steppe Zone of the Southern Urals with a Description of a New Species from the Genus Mallomonas

“…With a precipitation deficit, the importance of water bodies of different origin for the ecosystem increases. In the conditions of the steppe zone, they play a special role, forming the cores of biodiversity concentration [55][56][57].…”

“…The strong degradation of steppes as a result of anthropogenic human activity (ploughing, grazing, use of steppe reservoirs for irrigation), which is currently occurring, is the cause of the loss of steppe biodiversity in general, and the biodiversity of water ecosystems in particular [55][56][57]. In this situation, it is necessary to create protected natural areas for the conservation and study of biodiversity.…”