Preservation of the natural potential of vegetation. Assessment in landscape planning

Abstract

The priority purpose of landscape planning is preservation of natural environment with existing ecosystem interrelations under prevailing conditions for the territory development. Analysis of the contemporary state of plant cover is component part of the comprehensive program of studies on landscape planning, which reveals dynamics of vegetation, territorial differentiation, biological variety, degree of territory disturbance communities, and potential of their preservation. Natural stability of vegetation, which is supported not only at the level of biocenosis, but also at the level of spatial current connections of contemporary landscape, is one of the main conditions of preserving the biotope structure. Particularities of development and nature restoration determine ecologically favorable conditions of existence and renewal of plant cover structure. External disturbing factors set additional constraints on the motion of natural dynamics, slowing down restoration or completely leading to irreversible changes. The evaluation of sustainability of plant communities for the southern part of the Lake Baikal coast was carried out on the basis of expert estimation for multifactoral impacts upon dynamics and was represented using a cartographic method in the form of integrated areas of the sustainability of plant communities. Cartographic interpretation of contemporary vegetation state of investigated territory, the determining of the integrated areas of plant community’s sustainability, and further sequential carrying out of interconnected estimation maps, makes possible to differentiate territory in the categories of landscape planning for the complex preservation of natural environment and to develop the necessary measures for stabilization.

Spatial structure of vegetation cover of Sharyn SNNP

“…Analysis of the current state of vegetation is an integral part of a comprehensive research program on landscape planning, which reveals the dynamics of vegetation, territorial differentiation, biological diversity, the degree of disturbance of the communities of the territory and the possibility of their preservation [15]. An indirect method for assessing biodiversity from Earth observations is the hypothesis of spectral variability.…”