Grasslands of intermontane basins of Central Caucasus: land use legacies and present-day state

Belonovskaya, Elena; Gracheva, Raisa; Shorkunov, I. G.; Vinogradova, V. G.

doi:10.1515/hacq-2016-0016

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The series of the mountain ridges are divided by deep and wide intermontane basins of which slopes glaciers rise. The altitudinal zonality of the region has been described in previous articles (Gracheva & Belonovskaya 2010, Belonovskaya et al 2016. Shortly, forests occupy slopes up to 1200-2000 m a.s.l.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 64%

Mountain grassland ecosystems on abandoned agricultural terraces (Russia, North Caucasus)

2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Terraces represent one of the most common agricultural landscape elements in the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus. In the Central and West Caucasus, most of the arable terraces were converted into grasslands for grazing and haymaking 60-70 years ago and then abandoned or underused during the last 20-25 years. The role of abandoned terraces in maintaining the diversity of grasslands of the mountain slopes was studied in the case of eight terraces of different types. Plant communities of subalpine meadows and meadow steppes were distinguished on the terraces depending mainly on slope steepness at the same altitudes and to a lesser extent on the slope aspect. In general, the grasslands of the terrace platforms and those of original unterraced slopes had similar traits. At that, the mesophilous communities on the rich soils of terrace edges and scarp communities similar to vegetation of steep slopes with eroded soils create regular patterns on the terraced slopes. Thus, former agricultural terraces conditioning geodiversity also contribute to the diversity of plant communities and landscape fragmentation. The current increase of temperature and humidity may lead to a reduction of climatic differences of the slopes, and the further convergence of grassland communities can be assumed.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 64%

Mountain grassland ecosystems on abandoned agricultural terraces (Russia, North Caucasus)

2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This special issue consists of eight contributions, from China and Germany (Baranova et al 2016), Greece (Tsiobani et al 2016), Kazakhstan (Bragina 2016), Russia (Belonovskaya et al 2016, Polchaninova et al 2016, and Ukraine (Budzhak et al 2016, Kolomiychuk & Vynokurov 2016, Ronkin & Savchenko 2016. These papers cover a wide range of semi-natural grassland and steppe habitats across Eurasia and several aspects of vegetation ecology (Baranova et al 2016, Belonovskaya et al 2016, Ronkin & Savchenko 2016, syntaxonomy (Budzhak et al 2016, Kolomiychuk & Vynokurov 2016 and zoology (Bragina 2016, Polchaninova et al 2016, Tsiobani et al 2016).…”

Section: Contributions Of the Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These papers cover a wide range of semi-natural grassland and steppe habitats across Eurasia and several aspects of vegetation ecology (Baranova et al 2016, Belonovskaya et al 2016, Ronkin & Savchenko 2016, syntaxonomy (Budzhak et al 2016, Kolomiychuk & Vynokurov 2016 and zoology (Bragina 2016, Polchaninova et al 2016, Tsiobani et al 2016). Baranova et al (2016, this issue) studied plant communities of the Qilian Shan Mountains in China, in relation to altitudinal and grazing gradients.…”

Section: Contributions Of the Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grasslands, especially those with fertile soils (e.g. chernosems or castanosems) have been converted to croplands; this process is threatening steppes and several other types of semi-natural grasslands (Belonovskaya et al 2016, this issue, Deák et al 2016b. Other, less fertile grassland types are threatened by anthropogenic amelioration, such as the use of agrochemicals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Homogenization, resulting from mechanized and uniform mowing, is also a threat to grassland biodiversity, decreasing the availability and diversity of establishment microsites for grassland specialist species (Valkó et al 2012). At the other extreme, socio-economic changes have led to the cessation of traditional grazing practices in many parts of Eurasia (Loos et al 2015, Belonovskaya et al 2016. The consequences of abandonment include litter accumulation, and encroachment of competitor grasses and woody vegetation, all leading to a decline in grassland biodiversity (Wellstein et al 2014, Giarrizzo et al 2015, Tälle et al 2016.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Ecology and Conservation of Steppes and Semi-Natural Grasslands

Valkó¹,

Żmihorski

Biurrun

et al. 2016

Hacquetia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Palaearctic grasslands encompass a diverse variety of habitats, many of high nature value and vulnerability. The main challenges are climate-change, land-use change, agricultural intensification and abandonment. Many measures are in place to address these challenges, through restoration and appropriate management, though more work is necessary. We present eight studies from China/Germany, Greece, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. The papers cover a wide range of grassland and steppe habitats and cover vegetation ecology, syntaxonomy and zoology. We also conducted a systematic search on steppe and grassland diversity. The greatest number of studies was from China, followed by Germany and England. We conclude that the amount of research being carried out on Eurasian grasslands is inadequate considering their high levels of biodiversity and vulnerability. We hope to encourage readers to address current major challenges, such as how to manage grasslands for the benefit of diverse taxa, to ensure that conservation initiatives concentrate on sites where there is good potential for success and for the generation of realistic and viable conservation strategies. IzvlečekTravišča zmerne palearktične regije predstavljajo raznolika življenjska okolja, med katerimi so številna naravovarstveno pomembna in ogrožena. Glavni izzivi, kot so klimatske spremembe, spremembe rabe tal, intenzifikacija kmetijstva in opušča-nje rabe, so znani. Nanje skušamo odgovoriti z različnimi ukrepi, z obnovo in primernim gospodarjenjem s travišči, vendar bo potrebno še veliko postoriti. V tej številki predstavljamo osem raziskav travišč na Kitajskem in v Nemčiji, Grčiji, Kazahstanu, Rusiji in Ukrajini. Članki pokrivajo širok izbor travišč in stepskih habitatov in predstavljajo vegetacijsko ekološke, sintaksonomske in zoološke vidike. Naredili smo tudi sistematično poizvedbo o člankih s tematiko raznolikosti step in travišč. Največje število raziskav je s Kitajske, sledita Nemčija in Anglija. Zaključimo lahko, da je število raziskav evrazijskih travišč nezadostno, če upoštevamo njihovo veliko raznolikost in ogroženost zaradi okoljskih sprememb. Upamo, da bo ta posebna številka vzpodbudila bralce, da se bodo usmerili v raziskave glavnih izzivov, na primer kako gospodariti na rastiščih v prid različnim vrstam, da se bodo naravovarstvene pobude osredotočile na rastišča z dobrim potencialom za uspeh ali za izdelavo nove generacije realnih in izvedljivih strategij ohranjanja.

show abstract