Vol 88, No 1 (2024)

Drylands are subject to degradation processes caused by natural and anthropogenic factors. Among the latter, agricultural activities stand out in terms of the scale and duration of their impacts worldwide. These processes are exacerbated in transboundary areas with different socioeconomic and environmental management institutions. We propose the ecological-landscape paradigm of agricultural land management, which aims to achieve sustainable development of transboundary territories as a single socio-ecological system, while respecting environmental standards and landscape resilience to agricultural pressures. This approach was applied to the dry steppe landscapes of the Russian-Kazakh transboundary area. It was found that 75% of the study area is occupied by low-stable landscapes; unstable to agricultural impacts – 17%; relatively stable – only 8% of the territory. The conservation strategy is proposed for landscapes unstable to agricultural impact and unsuitable for involvement in agricultural turnover due to their environmental, water and soil protection functions. The adaptation strategy is developed for landscapes with low stability, which should be used as farmland with a high proportion of perennial grasses and natural fodder by carrying out the necessary agricultural and recreational works. The development strategy with a grain-fallow soil protection system is most suitable for relatively stable landscapes. These strategies make it possible to find a compromise between the intensive use of dryland farmland and its conservation, and to apply uniform management tools in cross-border areas.

The paper discusses the features of the transformation of the structure of the water balance in the dark coniferous forests of the Yenisey Ridge, disturbed by logging. Questions of evapotranspiration dynamics are considered, considering reforestation successions in the cut areas. Based on the use of satellite data (MOD16A2), the change in evapotranspiration was analyzed considering the disturbance of the forest cover in the watershed. Against the background of the general dependence of evapotranspiration on meteorological parameters, the results showed that at the basin level, the variation in evapotranspiration depends on the accumulative effect of forest cover disturbance in the watershed. The ranking of felled areas, considering the regenerative-age dynamics of the vegetation cover, made it possible to assess the contribution of various stages of the reforestation process to the total evaporation in the Suhoy Pit River basin, and to reveal how the ratio of logging sites of the current year to the areas of already afforested cutting areas affects the amount of total evaporation. Studies have shown that if less than 2% of the total watershed area is deforested, then the logging does not cause major change in evapotranspiration and river runoff.

On the territory of the Valdaisky National Park (Novgorod oblast) the analysis of invasions of alien species of vascular plants was carried out. The risk of invasion of alien species into natural ecosystems was assessed, considering the history of land use in the region, current nature management practices, and the ongoing development of transport infrastructure in the area. Since 2005, annual monitoring studies have been carried out using standard geobotanical methods along existing, modernized, and new linear structures in the Park’s territory and buffer zone. It has been shown that the forest–field–meadow structure of the vegetation cover, which has developed over the centuries, and the composition of the Park’s flora have proved to be quite resistant to the invasions. The composition and value of the invasive component in the flora of the National Park is 18% (133 species from 42 families). At the same time, the role of transport infrastructure in the spread of alien species is obvious. About 40–50% of the invasive flora (about 50–70 species) is limited to railways and roads, and their composition can determine the vector of spread—from the south-east and south to the north and north-west. In order to reduce the risk of invasion of alien vascular plant species and to preserve the unique native floristic complex, strict regulations are required for the development of transport infrastructure in the National Park.

Reconstruction of the fire frequency in the area of the Kulikovo Battlefield Museum Reserve (Upper Don Basin, Central Russian Upland) over the last 4000 years was carried out on the basis of macrocharcoal analysis (study of macroscopic charcoal particles with a linear size greater than 100 μm) of the peat core from the Podkosmovsky bog, which received the status of a specially protected natural area in 2013. The results of macroscopic charcoal analysis were compared with published quantitative reconstructions of forest cover and vegetation dynamics in the region, palynological data and archaeological material. The results of the study showed low fire activity in the area of the Kulikovo Battlefield between 4000 and 1500 cal (calibrated) years BP. According to the results of pollen analysis, the study area belonged to the forest-steppe vegetation zone during this period. The mosaic of plant cover included patches of deciduous pine forests, floodplain alder forests and grassland steppes on dry slopes. The forest cover of the area was 30–40% and reached 45% at about 2700 cal years BP, when the climate cooled and humidity increased. From 1500 cal years BP, the rate of charcoal accumulation in the peat deposit of the Podkosmosky bog gradually increased. The highest frequency of forest fires and the highest charcoal accumulation rates in peat were found for the period 900–300 cal years BP. The relationship between the periods of increased charcoal influx and climatic changes in the Late Holocene has not been established, but there is a clear correspondence between the interval of increased charcoal accumulation in peat and the stages of human activity in the region, confirmed by numerous archaeological finds. The decrease in forest cover in the study area to 15–20% over the same period and the abundance of anthropogenic pollen indicators in the pollen assemblages indicate an increase in human impact on the vegetation.

This article attempts to illustrate current approaches to the study of religious phenomena using the landscape framework. The authors identify similarities and differences in the interpretations of the most common terms used in foreign research to describe religion. The article shows that their semantic difference is mainly determined by their use as tools of either cultural geography or social anthropology. In particular, cultural geography focuses on the material objects of cultural landscapes and their geographical distribution, while social anthropology highlights specific features of people’s religious discourse and practices and analyses social processes that shape the modern world landscape. The term religious landscape can be used in the following ways, depending on how it is operationalized. First, it refers to the totality of material objects associated with religion. Secondly, it refers to the places where rituals take place. Finally, it refers to the territory in which followers of particular religious traditions live. The term religioscape implies a situation of conflict or complementary interaction between followers of different religions sharing the same space. Sacred landscape is sometimes applied as a synonym for the term religious landscape meaning a set of religious material objects. Sometimes it means a complex of natural places or objects of worship (mountains, hills, swamps, and others) that provides a general framework for various individual religious landscapes within it. The term sacroscape refers to the historically formed material manifestations of religiosity influencing both contemporary people and earth’s surface. The term spiritual landscape has several basic meanings. On the one hand, it is used as a synonym for religious landscape or sacred landscape. Secondly, it serves as a broader, generalizing term to describe all aspects of human interaction (ideas, objects, practices) with the supersensible world. Finally, the term spiritual landscape refers to spaces of not only ritual but also everyday practices.