Landscape research: from paradigm through GIS technology to monitoring (on the example of the territory of the Slobozhansky National Nature Park)

Abstract

For 10 years, a group of specialists from the department of physical geography and cartography has been exploring the territories of national parks consistently using information technology tools, improving their use in combination with ground test landscape surveys. This article reflects the experience of such scientific and applied development in relation to the territory of Slobozhansky National Nature Park. The purpose of this development is to improve the existing technologies of complex interpretation of geodata for the design and monitoring of the territory in their systematic combination with the methods of online mapping and in-depth meaningful interpretation for the scientific support of the organization of the territory and the administration of the national parks. This article covers currently known and possible scientific approaches and measures that rely on scientific and applied measures used by the national parks administration in management processes. The most recent issues highlighted in this article compared to the previous published works of the authors are the formulation of the trinity paradigm of the process of creating a landscape model of the territory. A set of individual tasks is defined, the consistent implementation of which ensures the achievement of the goal: selection of appropriate types, scales and optical ranges of remote sensing, taking into account the landscape conditions inherent in the location of the territory of the national park; development, on these grounds, of the technology of thematic landscape mapping, geoecological assessment and control of results on test areas of the terrain; peculiarities of drawing legends of applied landscape maps using GIS technologies; making corrections and additions to the existing defining documents of projects of the national park organization and developing recommendations for their improvement; design of the monitoring system of Slobozhansky National Nature Park. In the paradigm of applied landscape research, the national park should be designed based on the trinity of remote sensing and human intelligence: a) the technical level of providing remote sensing; b) taking into account the ambiguity of the optical image of the area depending on the purpose of geodata interpretation; c) tasks that are also solved ambiguously: the selection of certain ranges and scales of soundings, the selection of test areas and even the compilation of legends of a large-scale landscape map. The specified ambiguity is manifested in the variability of constructions and creates the subjectivity of applied landscape research. Methodological basis. The system-structural approach is manifested in the identification and identification of those spatial connections between visually significant and hidden from direct observation properties (mainly water-heat balance indicators) of the landscape, which change in an ambiguous dependence on regional background indicators, therefore must be taken into account in design and monitoring. Scientific results. In addition to theoretical generalizations, the article briefly presents the implementation of the highlighted approach in the study of landscapes of the Slobozhansky National Nature Park.