Recent Afforestation in the Iowa River and Vorskla River Basins: A Comparative Trends Analysis

Abstract

Afforestation trends were compared between two continentally-distinct, yet similar ecoregions to characterize similarities or differences in forest advancement due to natural and anthropogenic forcings. Temporal changes in forest cover were analyzed using high resolution aerial and satellite photographs for Southeast Iowa, USA, and satellite photographs for the western Belgorod Oblast, Russia. An increase in forested area was shown to occur over a 44-year period from 1970-2014 in Iowa where afforestation was reflected by the aggregation of smaller forest units. In the Belgorod region the opposite occurred in that there was an increase in the number of smaller forested units. The rate of forest expansion into open grassland areas, previously used as haying lands and pastures, was 14 m decade −1 and 8 m decade −1 in Iowa and the Belgorod Oblast, respectively. Based on current trends, predicted times for complete forest coverage in the study areas was estimated to be 80 years in Iowa and 300 years in the Belgorod Oblast. In both the Iowa and Belgorod Oblast, there was an increase in annual precipitation at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, thus providing a contributing mechanism to forest advancement in the study regions and implications for future management practices.

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“…[21] The geo-planning of the park through the allocation of functional zones will allow fulfilling the tasks that are set for the natural parks in the regional ecological framework.…”

“…The northern part of the park and the continuous biological corridor of the river Vorskla's floodplain, which connects the "Forest on the Vorskla" reserve land with the closely situated land type areas, reflects not only the biological diversity of our region, but also fully discloses the unique landscape diversity of the geosystems of the river Vorskla basin. [21] Due to the weak anthropogenic transformations, it is these territories that were substantiated to be the reserve nuclei of the NP. The river valley landscapes along the section of the Vorskla river course from Hotmyzhsky to the border with the Grayvoron District reveal the functional connection of the relic marshes of lowland areas with the floodplain.…”

Soils with the Second Humus Horizon, Paleochernozems, and the History of Pedogenesis at the Border between Forest and Steppe Areas

“…In North America, there are also signs of the earlier (8-4 ka ago) distribution of chernozems [50,96,99] that was replaced by the advance of forest communities and forest pedogenesis onto the former steppe areas [6,71,73,77].…”

Evaluation and Automated Mapping the Modern Forest Coverage of Small Flat-Bottom Valleys in the Belgorod Region Using Satellite Data

“…Изучение современной лесистости овражно-балочных систем является одной из актуальных региональных задач в связи с тем, что согласно исследованиям [Chendev et al, 2016] на территории лесостепной зоны, начиная с 1970-х гг. протекают процессы лесовозобновления, которые в пределах оврагов и балок получили наиболее интенсивное развитие [Терехин, 2018].…”