State of the soil and vegetation cover within the Oka river basin

The study was carried out within the Oka River catchment area (245 thousand km2 ). The catchment area is located in the European part of the Russian Federation and belongs to the Volga River basin. Based on the analysis of remote sensing data, the dynamics of soil production processes and the structure of land use within the basin are considered. Natural complex of the Oka River basin is a complicated mosaic of different landscapes, each having a diverse combination of geomorphologic and soil-vegetation complexes. To assess the state of landscapes, the catchment basins of tributaries, which are completely included in each specific landscape, are identified as key areas and the land use structure is described for each of them. According to Modis primary productivity – v 6.1 data and using the ArcGIS 10.8 software, phytoproductivity indicators (in carbon units) were calculated for each basin for the peak of the growing season (mid-July) during 2000–2015. The organic carbon reserve of the soil in the Oka River basin was evaluated. The trend of the dynamics of net and gross primary production and the reserve of organic carbon of soils is analyzed for the key river basins of the Oka River catchment area located in different landscape provinces. It has been established that the periods of production increase and decrease in different landscapes generally coincide, however, the scope of these changes and the stability of productivity indicators differ. It is shown that the size and structure of land use significantly affect the indicators of phytoproduction of landscapes. The main trends in the dynamics of net primary production in small river basins and the whole Oka River basin have been identified. It is shown that several levels of assessment, depending on the objectives of the study, are necessary for the integral assessment of extensive river basins. The first level is the assessment of the parameters for the functioning of the whole basin. The second level is the analysis of imbedded landscapes and basins, which makes it possible to take into account multidirectional processes within an integral water catchment system. In this case, we propose to consider the key areas which are smaller representative river basins. 

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