Agricultural Landscape Structure Research Articles

Управление устойчивостью аграрного землепользования на локальном уровне с использованием ГИС-технологий и специального картографического материала

The purpose of the study: analysis of geoecological factors and conditions affecting the sustainability of agricultural land use in the forest-steppe zone of the Altai Krai and its assessment. Research methods: The main scientific method of this study was system analysis, which was used to study the agricultural landscape management system. Methods of analysis and synthesis were used to identify structural units of land management, structuring the land information system (LIS) and special cartographic material, as well as studying the structure of agricultural landscapes. We also used the cartographic method in the design of unique map diagrams and information analysis in modeling agricultural land use. Research results. Based on the results of a long-term assessment of the sustainability of three agricultural land uses located in different natural and climatic zones, the conditions and factors that form the basis of the agricultural land use management system using GIS technologies were established. We found out that in order to manage the sustainability of agricultural landscapes, the mandatory information layers included in the data bank of a geographic information system (land information system) must include the following special cartographic materials: maps (scale 1:10000 or 1:25000) – landscape, soil, slope steepness, erosion, types of areas, tracts, lands, as well as the geomorphological profile of the surface. By processing materials with an information system, it is possible to implement at least 10 models for managing the sustainability of agricultural land use, which involve varying the structure of lands, lands, crop rotations, a set of crops, farming systems, a list of agro-, phyto-, reclamation techniques and measures aimed at achieving ecological and economic balance and, as a consequence, the efficiency of use of land resources. Conclusions. 1. Based on long-term spatio-temporal studies of agricultural landscapes of agricultural enterprises, a mandatory set of special cartographic materials of the geographic information system data bank has been determined, aimed at managing the sustainability of agricultural land use. 2. Using unique cartographic materials as an example, the possibility of modeling management scenarios in different natural conditions, characterized by different stability and efficiency, is shown. Modeling of agricultural land use makes it possible to determine capital investments and economic costs (economic and agronomic sustainability) when implementing the selected model, created on the basis of an analysis of the limiting factors of the territory. 3. The results of scientific research can be used in managing the sustainability of agricultural land use at the level of a municipal district and agricultural organization.

Effects of agricultural landscape structure and canola coverage on biochemical and physiological traits of the ground beetle Poecilus cupreus.

The intensifications in the agricultural landscape and the application of pesticides can cause adverse effects on the fitness of organisms in that landscape. Here, we investigated whether habitats with different agricultural pressures influenced acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity - a biomarker for exposure to pesticides, respiration rate, and resistance to starvation in the ground beetle Poecilus cupreus. Two differently structured landscapes were selected for the study, one dominated by small (S) and another by large (L) fields. Within each landscape three habitat types were selected: in the S landscape, these were habitats with medium (M), small (S) and no canola (meadow, 0) coverage (i.e., SM, SS, S0), and in the L landscape habitats with large (L), medium (M) and no canola (meadow, 0) coverage (i.e., LL, LM, L0), representing different levels of agricultural pressure. The activity of AChE was the highest in beetles from canola-free habitats (S0 and L0), being significantly higher than in beetles from the SM and SS habitats. The mean respiration rate corrected for body mass was also the highest in S0 and L0 beetles, with significant differences between populations from L0 vs. SS and from S0 vs. SS. Only beetles from S0, SS, L0, and LM were numerous enough to assess the resistance to starvation. Individuals from the LM habitat showed better survival compared to the canola-free habitat in the same landscape (L0), whereas in S landscape the SS beetles survived worse than those from S0, suggesting that characteristics of L landscape may lead to developing mechanisms of starvation resistance of P. cupreus in response to agricultural pressure.

Impact of agricultural landscape structure on the patterns of bird species diversity at a regional scale

The loss of bird species diversity is a crucial problem in the European agricultural landscape. Change in the area coverage of major land cover types has been mentioned as one of the main factors responsible for bird biodiversity impoverishment. In this study, we focused on the impact of landscape matrix characteristics on bird species richness and on Faith's phylogenetic diversity index on a spatial scale of 1000-m radius around the measured occurrence points. We investigated how land cover composition affects bird diversity on the landscape scale using nationwide citizen science data. In total, 168,739 records of bird occurrence in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic during growing season from 2009 to 2019 were evaluated. We found that the presence of water bodies and wetlands significantly corresponded to the areas of highest bird species richness. We also revealed that the presence of forests (∼60% of the forest in the Czech Republic is occupied by commercial forests), urban areas and arable land were negatively associated with bird species richness and phylogenetic diversity. Forests (both coniferous and deciduous) and urban habitats were found to have a tendency to host a clustered phylogenetic community structure in comparison with wetland and arable land. A strong negative association between forest proportion and bird diversity led us to conclude that the expansion of the forest (with simple species composition, horizontal and vertical structure) could be one of the critical drivers of the decline of bird species diversity in the European agricultural landscape. On the other hand, our results also pointed out that small woody features (i.e., woodlots) and scattered woodland shrub vegetation were one of the main landscape characteristics supporting a bird diversity in rural landscape. This is in concordance with other studies which mention these landscape structures as important elements for nesting and foraging of farmland birds. We thus recommend to maintain and restore scattered trees or woodlots with complex structure in agricultural landscape.

Agrobiological justification of agricultural specialization of the region — a model of agricultural production (on the example of Tetiiv district of Kyiv region)

Purpose. Identify and justify agrobiological mechanisms for optimizing the agricultural system of the region. Methods. Field, laboratory and chemical, mathematical and statistical. Results. Assessment of sowings in crop rotations was carried out in the years 2017–2020 at the State Enterprise Experimental Farm Shevchenkivske IBCSB NAAS of Ukraine (Tetiiv district, Kyiv region). The following tasks were performed: potential and terms of crop yield in crop rotations, increasing soil fertility, development of scientifically sound crop rotations, fertilizer application, chemical reclamation of soil, soil protection measures, minimal tillage, integrated plant and pest control, agronomic practices. Conclusions. The proposed energy model of intensive agriculture in the region provides for the optimisation of the agricultural landscape structure and sown areas, the spread of the most soil-saving crops, crop rotation, varieties of the new generation. To this end, it is necessary to withdraw degraded and unproductive lands from production and turn them to hayfields, pastures, forest plantations. Under such conditions, it becomes possible to increase the share of grain crops to 75–78% and sugar and fodder beets to 80–83%.

Scale dependence of landscape-structure-based estimation of abundance of Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis)

The habitat and occurrence of farmland birds are strongly determined by the agricultural-landscape structure. Changes in land cover composition and configuration are one of the main causes of the significant decline in abundance of the Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis) in recent decades. This farmland-bird species is common in agricultural areas of Eurasia. In this study we investigate the land use factors involved in the decline in Central Europe, Hungary. We used two different land use/land cover (LULC) datasets, which were compiled at different scales: the Ecosystem Map of Hungary (EMH), a very precise LULC map based on a 0.04-ha minimum mapping unit, and the Corine Land cover (CLC) dataset, built using a 25-ha minimum mapping unit. We studied the impact of landscape composition and configuration on skylark abundance by using negative-binomial generalized linear models. After identifying skylark preferences among LULC categories at different scales, we calculated the EMH and CLC dataset-based landscape indices (such as mean patch size and mean fractal dimension index) of the skylark preferred (arable lands, pastures, grasslands and meadows) and the nonpreferred (artificial surfaces, forests, complex cultivation patterns and waters) LULC classes. Then we compared the results with field observations of skylark abundance in the database of Hungarian Common Bird Monitoring (MMM). On the basis of statistical analysis of connections between the landscape indices and the skylark-abundance data, we estimated skylark abundance for those areas where the skylark-abundance datasets from field observation were not available. We also tested the estimates by assessing model sensitivity when we input different-scale LULC data and used different observation windows (grain size). Our statistical model using EMH dataset explained 41.22% variance of the skylark abundance data, while the rest, 58.78% of variance is not accounted by the model presumably due to local environmental factors not considered in our model. The regional scale (CLC-based) estimation of skylark abundance yielded significantly lower accuracies (33.76% in 1200 m radius buffer zones and 34.11% in 600 m radius buffer zones). We conclude that the size of the landscape windows (grain size) land cover has a significant impact on the relationship between skylark and landscape structure. Our results can help to test the usefulness and limitations of the different-scale LULC databases and to find the optimal grain size for modelling and estimating farmland-bird abundance data and may support landscape scale conservation management plans.

СТРУКТУРА СІЛЬСЬКОГОСПОДАРСЬКИХ ЛАНДШАФТІВ ЯК ОСНОВА ФОРМУВАННЯ ЗООЦЕНОЗІВ СЕРЕДНЬОГО ПРИДНІСТЕР'Я

Agricultural landscapes are the most common class of anthropogenic landscapes. In the structure of agricultural landscapes, there are subclasses of field, garden and meadow-pasture landscapes, which collectively make up to 80% of the area of the study area. To establish the influence of agricultural landscapes on the territorial distribution of zoocenoses of terrestrial vertebrates within Middle Transnistria. In the research process, landscape science, ecological and biogeocenotic approaches and principles of complexity and systematicity, natural-anthropogenic coexistence, constructivism, etc. were applied. The study of zoocenoses of anthropogenic landscapes was based on a system of general scientific and specific scientific methods: observation, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, comparison and analogy, abstraction and generalization, and the bibliographic method were also used. Records of terrestrial vertebrates, and capture of amphibians, reptiles and small mammals were carried out by faunal methods, taking into account the specifics of individual groups of animals. The share of field landscapes corresponds to an average of 65%, of which the main part is located on watersheds and floodplain terraces. It was found that the zoocenotic composition of field landscapes is relatively impoverished, but the growth of zoodiversity is provided by “migrant animals” and animals that use fields to find food. Garden landscapes of Middle Transnistria occupy up to 5 %. The timeliness of certain groups of terrestrial vertebrates to garden landscapes was studied, a significant part of which belongs to dendrophilous species of birds and mammals. The reduction of anthropogenic load (compared to field landscapes) affected the growth of the species composition of all settled animal species, as well as nesting birds in garden landscapes. It was determined that meadow-pasture landscapes of Middle Transnistria occupy an average of about 9.5 % and are localized, as a rule, on the slopes of river valleys. In separate areas, they enter the plakors and river floodplains. A wider range of terrain types (increasing the number of ecological niches) influenced the growth of the overall species diversity of animals of this subclass of agricultural landscapes. We consider the need for systematic monitoring of zoocenoses in different classes of anthropogenic landscapes to be a generalization of our research. This will make it possible to trace their dynamics and form scientifically based recommendations regarding the protection and rational use of local areas of animal concentration.

ОПТИМИЗАЦИЯ ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИЯ СЕЛЬСКОХОЗЯЙСТВЕННЫХ ПРОИЗВОДСТВЕННЫХ СИСТЕМ

Based on the analysis of the modern technogenic stage of development of the agrarian sector, the article shows that it is characterized by certain difficulties associated with the formation of environmentally balanced agricultural production systems (APS). It is shown that these difficulties are due to the coverage of a fairly wide range of issues: complex physicochemical and biological processes in the soil, the cycle of substances and energy flows in the APS, the transformation of organic matter, the improvement of the specialization of the APS, the optimization of the structure of agricultural landscapes, the organization of the land use area, etc. Constant the development of the agro-industrial complex provides for the provision of an environmentally safe and economically balanced interaction of the three areas of intersectoral cooperation. An analysis of the state of the problem showed that one of the conditions for the sustainable functioning of the agroindustrial complex for the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) is to achieve the optimal ratio of the cost of production of all three components based on modern methods of environmental and mathematical modeling. According to the results of the study, based on the results of the analysis of the functioning of the АPS in LLC NP «Shedzhem» of the Chegemsky district of the KBR through logical analysis, it was found that improving the structure of sown areas, planning crop rotations, optimizing the use of fertilizers and taking into account the structural and constituent features of arable land made it possible to increase the volume of obtained products from 2,8 to 12,2% while reducing the volume of used financial resources by 11% and reducing the cost by 3-6%.

Impact of Agricultural Landscape Structure with Different Oilseed Rape Coverage on Two Generations of the Red Mason Bee Osmia Bicornis

Impact of Agricultural Landscape Structure with Different Oilseed Rape Coverage on Two Generations of the Red Mason Bee Osmia Bicornis

Contrasting responses of soybean aphids, primary parasitoids, and hyperparasitoids to forest fragments and agricultural landscape structure

Primary parasitoid species, usually Hymenopteran wasp species, contribute to pest regulation services in agroecosystems by parasitizing crop pests and reducing their abundance. However, this positive effect can be limited if primary parasitoids themselves are parasitized by secondary parasitoids, also known as hyperparasitoids. These trophic dynamics that influence pest regulation take place within the context of changes to agricultural landscape structure including loss of natural habitat and landscape simplification. Therefore, there is great interest in understanding how landscape structure influences pest, primary parasitoid, and hyperparasitoid dynamics. We investigated how the structure of agricultural landscapes in Southern Quebec affects primary and hyperparasitism rates of soybean aphid (Aphis glycines). We found that pests, primary parasitoids, and hyperparasitoids responded in contrasting ways to landscape structure. While aphid abundances and hyperparasitoid rates increased with increasing distance-from-forest in soybean fields and as the proportion of forest in the surrounding landscape decreased, primary parasitoid rates showed the opposite trends. Relationships with forest fragment size and isolation were complex, with contrasting positive, negative, and neutral effects across the three groups. Finally, wider fields consistently had lower aphid abundances, primary parasitoid rates, and hyperparasitoid rates. Our results highlight the complexity of the trophic dynamics that underlie pest regulation and how changes to landscape structure can lead to conflicting and contradictory effects on pest regulation.

Balance of the territorial organization of agricultural landscapes of the eastern division: scientific-methodical and practical approaches

«Sustainable Development Strategy of Ukraine until 2030» provides for the introduction of effective and scientifically sound methods of agricultural production, which would contribute to the preservation of agro-ecosystems, increase their adaptive capacity to withstand climate change (adverse weather events, droughts, floods), improve environmental lands and soils. However, without the balance of the territorial organization of the state of agricultural landscapes it is impossible to achieve this goal. We analyzed the balance of the territorial organization of modern agricultural landscapes of Eastern Podillya, which is 4.4% of the total area of Ukraine, where the share of the region in total agricultural production is 12.3%. Currently, the main destabilizing factors of agricultural land in the structure of agricultural landscapes of Eastern Podillya are: high plowing of agricultural land (average in the region is 75.2%), low level of humus in soils (2.7%), insufficient levels of nutrients (nitrogen 82.0 mg/kg, phosphorus 83.5 mg/kg, potassium 109.9 mg/kg), practically no crop rotations (53% are occupied by cereals and legumes, 32% by industrial crops, 8% by potatoes and vegetables). According to our calculations, it has been established that part of the land of district communities belongs to the ecologically unstable or stably unstable category of land. The lowest level of environmental stability is observed in the central and south-eastern communities. For further balanced development of agrolandscapes of the East Podolsk region, scientific-theoretical and practical approaches to the functioning of agroecosystems are substantiated and a set of measures to comply with the environmentally friendly state of agricultural land use is proposed. The priority areas of balan­cing the territorial organization of agro-landscapes of the region and improving their ecological condition are measures of regulatory, institutional, technical and economic and organizational and land management. Observance of these measures will provide an opportunity to use significant reserves to increase agricultural production, ensure significant «rehabilitation» of agricultural landscapes and improve the living conditions of the rural population.

Effects of agricultural landscape structure, insecticide residues, and pollen diversity on the life-history traits of the red mason bee Osmia bicornis

Agricultural landscapes have changed substantially in recent decades, shifting from the dominance of small fields (S) with diverse cropping systems toward large-scale monoculture (L), where landscape heterogeneity disappears. In this study, artificial nests of the red mason bee, Osmia bicornis, were placed in S and L landscape types on the perimeter of oilseed rape fields representing different oilseed rape coverages (ORC, % land cover). The local landscape structure around each nest was characterised within a 100, 200, 500, and 1000 m radius using ORC and 14 landscape characteristics, which were then reduced by non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) to two axes: nMDS1 characterised the dataset primarily according to land fragmentation and the main crop, whereas nMDS2 captured the prevalence of more natural areas in the landscape. Pollen diversity and insecticide risk levels in the pollen provisions collected by the bees were analysed, and their dependence on the landscape structure was tested. Thereafter, the effects of pollen diversity, insecticide risk, and landscape structure on the life-history traits of bees and their sensitivity to topically applied Dursban 480 EC were determined. Pollen taxa richness in a single nest ranged from 3 to 12, and 34 pesticides were detected in the pollen at concentrations of up to 320 ng/g for desmedipham. The O. bicornis foraging range was relatively large, indicating that the landscape structure within a radius of ~1000 m around the nest is important for this species. Pollen diversity in the studied areas was of minor importance for bee performance, but the ORC or landscape structure significantly affected the life-history traits of the bees. Contamination of pollen with insecticides affected the bees by decreasing the mass of newly emerged adults but their sensitivity to Dursban 480 EC was not related to environmental variables.

Soil erosion as a factor of desertification of agrolandscapes in Ukraine

The description of the typical structure of agricultural landscapes of Ukraine and the most common degradation processes are given. Water and wind erosion are considered as one of the largest contributors to soil degradation in Ukraine, accompanied by declining soil fertility, moisture loss to surface runoff, air and surface water pollution, and degradation of small rivers. The sown areas of main crops for 1990–2020 are analysed per administrative oblast according to the State Statistical Service of Ukraine. A global long-term satellite remote sensing land surface temperature dataset (NOAA AVHRR) was used to analyse the dynamics of the average sum of effective temperatures for the vegetation season in 1982–2019. Sentinel-5P satellite data was used to analyse the spread and exposure of a large-scale dust storm in Polissya region in April 2020. As a result of climate change and economic factors, the area under corn and sunflower has been significantly increased. Due to the increased frequency of stormy rains and strong wind under climate change, the conditions for intensification of water and wind erosion in agricultural landscapes has been created. The local manifestation of wind erosion is typical for Polissya, mainly on overdried peat bogs and cohesive-sandy soils. But in the spring of 2020 a large-scale dust storm was observed for the first time on the territory of Ukrainian and Belarusian Polissya on the area of about 3.5 million hectares.The growing risk of soil erosion due to the climate change and current agricultural practices requires the improvement not only of the state land management system, but also the agri-environmental monitoring system, scientific methodical and information-advisory support of regional governments, landowners and land users. In order to implement state policy and coordinate the work on the rational use and protection of soils, combating their desertification and degradation, as well as adaptation of land use systems to climate change, it is proposed to establish the governing body «Monitoring, land management and soil protection» on the basis of existing specialized units of central and regional governments in the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

Environmentally-friendly and organic management practices enable complementary diversification of plant–bumblebee food webs

Plant and pollinator diversity have declined concurrently in Europe in the last half century. We studied plant–bumblebee food webs to understand the effects of two agri-environmental schemes (AES, organic farming and environmentally-friendly management practice) vs. conventional farming as control group, landscape structure (heterogeneous vs. homogeneous landscapes) and seasonality (June, July, and August) interactions using Estonian AES monitoring data. In the summer of 2014, we observed foraging bumblebees (20 species) on 64 farms that varied in agricultural management and landscape structure, yielding a total of 2303 flower visits on 76 plant species. We found that both management practice and landscape structure influenced the generality (redundancy in the use of flower resources) of food webs. In homogeneous landscapes, environmentally-friendly management practices, including restrictions on the application of glyphosates, enhancement of bumblebee habitats, such as permanent grassland field margins, the allocation of a minimum of 15% of arable land (including rotational grasslands) to legumes, contributed to a higher number of visited plant species (generality) in July, whereas organic farming did so in August. Therefore, both environmentally-friendly and organic management practices are needed to support plant–bumblebee food webs in agricultural landscapes. Food web generality and diversity (Shannon index) are affected by a significant interaction between landscape structure and seasonality: food web diversity varied in homogeneous landscapes between the three different survey months, whereas food webs were more diverse in heterogeneous landscapes. We did not find any significant interaction effect of management, landscape structure and seasonality on linkage density and vulnerability. A full list of the most visited plant species by bumblebees based on species-specific flower visitation was also assembled. In homogeneous landscapes, resource limitation is an issue for bumblebees in certain time periods. For supporting bumblebees in the agricultural landscapes, avoiding resource limitation is important and this can be secured with a combination of AES management practices.

Distribution of adventive species Solidago canadensis, Phalacroloma annuum, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Heracleum sosnowskyi in phytocenoses of Volyn’ Polissya (Ukraine)

Biological pollution of natural phytocenoses by adventive plant species poses is a serious threat to endemic species and species with narrower ecological amplitude in ecosystems around the world. This study presents the results of a study of the composition and distribution of adventive plant species in natural, semi-natural and anthropogenic transformed phytocenoses of Volyn’ Polissya, Ukraine. To clarify the effect of drainage melioration on non-native flora species distribution, a botanical study was carried out during the 2003–2019 vegetation seasons on the territory of four drainage systems. The adventive flora of this unique region of Europe was studied in detail for the first time. In total, 279 non-native plant species were found. They belong to 110 genera and 32 families. The results of studying the systematic, bioecological, range-distributional and phytogenetic structure of adventive species found within agricultural lands and adjacent territories are presented. It was found that 161 species are associated with agricultural production. Of these, 90 species were found directly within the agricultural land, another 71 species were found growing in the adjacent territories. It was found that a significant increase in the number of adventive species on the territory of Volyn’ Polissya is associated with drainage melioration carried out in the 1960–1990s, significant changes in the structure and forms of agro-industrial production, and climatic changes in recent decades. The expansion of agricultural land in this area over the past 50–60 years has led to an increase in the number of adventive species by more than 60%. On the territory of drainage systems used for agricultural activities, more than 40% of the total species composition of the adventive flora of Volyn’ Polissya is represented. The majority of these species originate from arid and sub arid regions of the planet. The transformer plants, Solidago canadensis L. and Phalacroloma annuum (L.) Dumort pose a potential threat to phytocenoses of the described region, as well as the whole of Europe. Of particular interest are the species that in the future may pose a serious threat to natural phyto-diversity and have negative practical consequences for the structure of agricultural landscapes. These are Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. and Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden. In general, modern agro ecosystems are characterized by instability and low ability to resist non-native species. The strongly weedy character of cultivated fields and the presence of abandoned uncultivated lands have caused the rapid spread of adventive vegetation. In order to further optimize the structure of agrolandscapes, it is advisable to monitor and regulate not only expansionary invasive species, which is especially important for preventing biological pollution, but also species whose status has not yet been determined.

Spatiotemporal changes in landscape crop composition differently affect density and seasonal variability of pests, parasitoids and biological pest control in cabbage

Declines in functional biodiversity, caused by changing structure and composition of agricultural landscapes, endanger the provision and stability of important ecosystem services, such as biological pest control. Understanding how spatiotemporal landscape changes affect the dynamics of pests, natural enemies and their activity can help safeguard and improve pest control in crops. Here, we tested the influence of spatial and temporal differences in landscape composition of crops (landscape-wide crop rotation diversity and % pest host crops) on the density and seasonal variability of cabbage pests, parasitoids and rates of aphid parasitism and predation. We also tested whether low seasonal variability of pests and parasitoids translates into stable and high pest control, reduced crop damage and higher yields. We show that landscapes with diverse crop rotations increased aphid parasitism, but also leaf-chewing pest density and seasonal stability. Leaf-chewing pest density decreased with increasing % host crops from year to year, suggesting a dilution effect. However, parasitoid density increased in these landscapes. We found no relationship between predation or parasitism and crop damage or yield. Further, stable parasitoid populations led to more stable parasitism rates. These findings highlight that impacts of spatially and temporally changing landscapes are pest- and enemy-specific, and tradeoffs for landscape management may occur. Appropriately managing the diversity and composition of arable crops in farmed landscapes may help influence species occurrences, without converting fertile land to non-crop habitat.

Land-use and spatial resilience changes in the Spanish olive socio-ecological landscape

The spatial structure of agricultural landscapes can affect crop resilience to potential pest development. Previous studies have found several spatial landscape metrics related to the abundance of the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, and these were combined to elaborate a spatial resilience index. In this paper, this index was calculated for olive landscapes all over Spain, for four years spanning a 50-year temporal range (1956, 1984, 1998 and 2008), using a network of 64 16-km2 plots representing olive landscapes within a bio-geo-climatic gradient. The resilience index was then modified adapting it through the weighting of spatial landscape metrics determined from the monitoring of this time-series analysis. The results showed that the values of spatial resilience of olive landscapes is predominantly low in southern Spain and medium in northeast and central Spain. The value of the index increased throughout the time-series considered, but not in the south. Expansion and concentration of olive groves, diversification of land uses, and fragmentation of landscapes have been the driving forces behind the evolution and current spatial structure of olive landscapes. The weighted resilience index constitutes a valuable tool for the socio-ecological planning of olive landscapes.

Biondication of Anthropogenic Load on Agrobiodiversity in the Northern Azov Region of Ukraine

Purpose. Determination of informative value of types of bioindicators from a number hunting animals for the estimation of the ecological state of agricultural landscapes and level of transformation in them of biological variety.Methods. The field (noise tuning-up, rout); ecological-analytical, statistical, methods of matrix algebra. Results. It is set that in the conditions of Northern Azov region of Ukraine by key anthropogenic factors that determine the quantity of population : for a partridge grey is a structure of agricultural landscapes; for the European hare-hare - structure of sowing areas, quantity of predators and state of sunny activity. Considerable cross-correlation connection is first set between the quantity of populations of indicatory kinds and pesticide loading on territory as on regional, so on local levels. In the dynamics of populations of indicatory kinds found out the short and long waves of quantity. In the conditions of the pesticide pressure the most vulnerable is regulative influence of zoophages on consumers of more subzero orders. Therefore at megascopic pesticide loading regulative influence of predators will diminish on the row of representatives of phytophages, that explains the phenomenon of increase of quantity of some phytophages at general toxic impact from pesticides. Conclusions. A high closeness of population and thick infrastructural network are the substantial factors of transformation of biovariety within the limits of region. The general of biological variety in a region as very tense. The ecological ground of potential kinds-indicators allows on the basis of investigational conformities to law the dynamics of their populations of different level of spatial organization to offer the method of bioindication of ecological violations in agricultural landscapes. Thus the informing index of anthropogenic pressure is a current quantity of population of indicatory type of the field fowl.

Endangered species’ trait responses to environmental variability in agricultural settings

Understanding the spatial and temporal effects of variable environmental conditions on demographic characteristics is important in order to stop the decline of endangered-species populations. To capture interactions between a species and its environment, in this work the demographic traits of the European ground squirrel (EGS), Spermophilus citellus, were modeled as a function of agricultural landscape structure. The habitat suitability index was determined for 20 localities within the study area based on habitat use, management and type. After mapping the habitat patch occupancy in the field, crop cover maps, the average normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and automated water extraction index (AWEI) were obtained from satellite images covering the period 2013-2015. This data was used to develop population-level generalized linear models (GLMs) and individual-level conditional mixed-effects models (GLMMs) in R package Ime4, focusing on the key demographic traits of the EGS. The land composition and patch carrying capacity (PCC) are the key determinants of the endangered EGS population size, while system productivity is the main factor influencing individuals? body condition after monitoring for variations across sampling years and age classes. The proposed landscape structural models show that human activities and abiotic factors shape the demographic rates of the EGS. Thus, to conserve threatened species, an appropriate focus on the spatial adaptation strategies should be employed.

DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR WATER MANAGEMENT IN AGROLANDSCAPES

Quantitative and qualitative depletion of water resources in Ukraine because of the increase in climate aridity make the problem of integrated surface and ground water management more urgent. The integrated management is based on the water balance of the territories, which automatically takes into account natural and artificial features of water use.
 The paper presents the results of a long term research aimed at resolving the problems of scientific support of integrated water resources management in Ukraine in the context of climate change.
 The plans for integrated water management are developed according to the administrative principle allowing optimization of the structure of water consumption and the assessment of available water resources capacity to meet water demand of the required quality without environmental risk for aquatic ecosystems and population.
 The surface and ground water in Ukraine have spatially homogeneous hydrochemical spectrum, which characterizes the concentration anions and cations in water and the nature of their change at different water exchange rates.
 Studies of hydrochemical spectrum have shown that its basic parameters are much higher for groundwater than for surface water.
 The results of the study on the spatial changes in the chemical composition of surface waters in the Dnipro river basin testify to the distinct homogeneity of their hydrochemical spectrum, which gives the reason to limit in practice observations of changes in the chemical composition of water to local points.
 As the experimental data are accumulated and the geospatial analysis of hydrochemical spectrum is made, the number of such points can be reduced ten times without significant negative impact on the reliability of the final results.
 It is possible to draw up a water balance with the use of correlation functions, the observance of which will guarantee the rational water resources use, based on their actual available volume and restrictions on the total water inflow, filtration losses, surface runoff (discharges).
 The water balance in the graphical representation is described by a linear function, which cuts the average of the sum of expendable elements on the ordinate axis over the entire observation period. The tangent of the slope of the graph represents the coefficient of water supply.
 The scope of this methodological approach's application is limited only by the availability of raw data. There are sufficient data from precipitation observations, water abstraction from all sources in volumes comparable to precipitation and more. It is also desirable to have observations of groundwater level fluctuations and air moisture deficit.
 The experimental research confirmed a high positive impact on the water resources formation made by forests, shelterbelts and meadows. In the humid zone it is possible to separate natural landscapes of wetlands and floodplains (60% of the territory), in the southern part - transitional landscapes that replace artificial agrolandscapes (40% of the territory). In arid climate conditions, the types of landscapes differ in the area of irrigated lands and the density of shelterbelts.
 Agrolandscapes are complex natural-technical systems. In most cases, when investigating their impact on the processes of formation and use of water, it is possible to operate a finite number of interconnected parts (subsystems). The purpose of such separation on subsystems is to obtain typical areas for which spatial structure of agricultural landscapes can be experimentally evaluated and the nature of its relationship with the factors of surface water resources formation can be determined.
 According to the assessment of water balance of rural territories, their water resources potential is equal to the sum of atmospheric precipitation and the volumes of water entering the balance space due to its withdraw for economic needs from surface and ground water bodies. When drawing up water balance for a hydrological year, water resources do not include precipitation, which is almost completely converted to river flow. The available volume of water for use should include the volume of water, the removal of which from natural or artificial circulation will not lead to negative environmental impacts or increase the cost of economic activity and restoration of fresh water bodies. The volume of water available for use is also limited by its qualitative indicators, which in turn are determined by its chemical composition (spectrum).

РАЦИОНАЛЬНОЕ ПРИРОДОПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ - ОСНОВА ПОВЫШЕНИЯ УСТОЙЧИВОСТИ СЕЛЬСКОХОЗЯЙСТВЕННЫХ КУЛЬТУР К БОЛЕЗНЯМ И ВРЕДИТЕЛЯМ

The article deals with topical issues of balanced, rational environmental management in agriculture, ensuring food and environmental security of the country. Loads on arable land, especially in the south of the country, are often excessive. Excessive plowing lands and focus on economically attractive culture, monocultures, reduction of biodiversity, imbalance in the structure of sown areas and crop rotations lead to depletion and destruction of land, the development of erosion, deflation, dehumification, increased drought and desertification. All this leads to a deterioration of phytosanitary conditions and a decrease in crop resistance to diseases and pests. The basis of the system of foodand environmentalsecurity of Russia liesin the maximum use of natural and climatic resources, geographical, biological and environmental factors in agriculture, balanced development of domestic crop, livestock, agriculture, structure of sown areas, crop rotations and agricultural landscapes, improving the resistance of crops to diseases and pests. The whole history of the All-Russian (All-Union) V.R. Williams Fodder Research Institute (now, the Federal Williams Research Center of Forage Production and Agroecology - FWRC FPA) is connected with the solution of these problems. Fodder production - the most ambitious, multifunctional and system-forming branch of agriculture, connecting and linking it into a single whole. Fodder production determines the state of animal husbandry and has a significant influence on the solution of key problems of further development of the entire crop, farming, rational use of natural resources, increasing the stability of agroecosystems and agrolandscapes to the effects of climate and negative processes, preserving valuable agricultural lands and reproducing soil fertility, improving the ecological condition of the territory and protecting environment. The scale of fodder production, as well as the high phytomeliorative role of perennial grasses in plowed fields, hayfields and pastures make it possible to eliminate many destructive processes, sharply reduce erosion, increase soil fertility and yield subsequent crops.