Аnalysis of antideflationary effectiveness of field-protective forest plantations in the arid zone of the Stavropol Region

Abstract

 The article presents research materials that are devoted to assessing the antideflationary effectiveness of the main field-protective forest plantations in the arid zone of the Stavropol Region.

Relevance. In the Stavropol Region the regional features of climate change are noted in the direction of increasing its aridity, which contributes to the increased likelihood of such phenomena as droughts, dry and dust storms. An important technique to reduce their harmful effects is the use of field-protective forest plantations, which were designed more than 40 years ago and are now significantly destroyed in many regions of Russia.

Methods. The originality of the research approach is the use of remote sensing and geoinformation technologies.

Results. On the study area an uncontrolled increase in arable land by 165.8 thousand hectares was revealed due to the plowing of hayfields and pastures, which led to a decrease in the protective forest cover of the territory to 3.6% with the recommended level of 3.8–4.8%. The average safety of protective forest plantations in the study area is 73%. The area of the main field-protective forest plantations is 36,733 hectares, with only 25% of them located at the recommended interband distances and 66% — at optimal angles relative to the prevailing winds. On the study area there was a decrease in the antideflationary efficiency of the main field-protective forest plantations to 78%, which extremely negatively affects the productivity of crops, especially if adverse events such as droughts, dry winds and dust storms occur.