UDC

574:631.95

Authors

Anna A. Popova*/**, Elena N. Nakvasina*, Tatyana A. Parinova*, Aleksey G. Volkov*
*Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation)
**Agrochemical Service Station “Arkhangelsk” (Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation)

Abstract

The paper considers the current environmental development trends of the soil and vegetation cover of the secondary flood plain meadows, caused by the abandoning of large areas of agricultural lands in the European North of Russia. The research is carried out by the profiling method on the plot of the island flood plain meadow in the delta accumulation area of the Northern Dvina river (Chub-Navolskaya Koshka Island) – in the active land use zone in the past. We pay a special attention to the changes caused by the small fields land use typical for the North and their subsequent abandonment and formation of deposits of different ages with various environmental soil parameters. We laid a soil and geomorphological profile with a length of 440 m, conducted a relief survey and selected soil samples with stationing of 10 m. We estimated the variability of soil acidity, content of mobile phosphorus and potassium, as well as the relationship of these indicators with the microrelief. The connections of acidity and the lay of land are very weak (r = 0.21). The terrain has a greater effect on the accumulation of mobile forms of phosphorus (r = 0.63) and potassium (r = 0.51). We compare the soil parameters with the data of the 1980s. The acidity of the flood plain soils has not changed; the contents of potassium and phosphorus have doubled. 4 plots differing in agricultural use and the time of abandonment are selected on a transect. We reveal their heterogeneity in soil parameters and the total index. The content of mobile phosphorus is exposed to the greatest variations in long-fallow areas. The swamp formation significantly reduces the soil quality. We have studied the vegetation within the soil and geomorphological profile and its ecological and cenotic structure according to the species diversity and agrobotanical groups. Against the background of the high degree of heterogeneity of physical and chemical soil characteristics of the studied meadow (acidity, content of mobile forms of potassium and phosphorus) we observe the leveled vegetation, caused by the spread of harmful ruderal edificators.

Keywords

agricultural land abandoning, soil property, soil and vegetation heterogeneity, grassland ecosystem

References

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