<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Mountain semi-natural grasslands of intermontane basins of Central Caucasus, North Ossetia-Alania and the history of its land use were studied. It was found that post-forest, meadow-steppe and partially subalpine grasslands in the study area had been used as croplands for centuries and have been transformed into grazing lands about 60 years ago. In the last 20 years, the grasslands have been underused. It was revealed that current spatial distribution of grasslands is different from the classic scheme of natural climate-induced vegetation distribution. Species composition of meadow steppes is similar in different locations and does not reflect climatic differences of “dry” leeward and “wet” windward slopes of the intermontane basins. Present-day soils reflect parent material differences and erosion degree, but not topography-induced local climate specificity. However, discovered buried soils showed contrasting soil diversity on the southern and northern slopes. It is assumed that the present convergence of soil cover and vegetation is a result of long homogenising human impact and relatively short grassland development.</p></abstract>

Mountain semi-natural grasslands of intermontane basins of Central Caucasus, North Ossetia-Alania and the history of its land use were studied. It was found that post-forest, meadow-steppe and partially subalpine grasslands in the study area had been used as croplands for centuries and have been transformed into grazing lands about 60 years ago. In the last 20 years, the grasslands have been underused. It was revealed that current spatial distribution of grasslands is different from the classic scheme of natural climate-induced vegetation distribution. Species composition of meadow steppes is similar in different locations and does not reflect climatic differences of “dry” leeward and “wet” windward slopes of the intermontane basins. Present-day soils reflect parent material differences and erosion degree, but not topography-induced local climate specificity. However, discovered buried soils showed contrasting soil diversity on the southern and northern slopes. It is assumed that the present convergence of soil cover and vegetation is a result of long homogenising human impact and relatively short grassland development.

Grasslands of intermontane basins of Central Caucasus: land use legacies and present-day state

Institute of Geography RAS, Staromonetny per. 29, 119017 Moscow, Russia

Hacquetia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Mountain semi-natural grasslands of intermontane basins of Central Caucasus, North Ossetia-Alania and the history of its land use were studied. It was found...

Grasslands of intermontane basins of Central Caucasus: land use legacies and present-day state

Published Online: Aug 12, 2016

Page range: 37 - 47

Received: Dec 07, 2015

Accepted: Apr 16, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/hacq-2016-0016

Keywords
buried soils, ecosystem convergence, land use history, mountain meadow-steppes, semi-natural grasslands, subalpine meadows

© by Elena Belonovskaya

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Grasslands of intermontane basins of Central Caucasus: land use legacies and present-day state

Published Online: Aug 12, 2016

Page range: 37 - 47

Received: Dec 07, 2015

Accepted: Apr 16, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/hacq-2016-0016

Keywordsburied soils, ecosystem convergence, land use history, mountain meadow-steppes, semi-natural grasslands, subalpine meadows

© by Elena Belonovskaya

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
buried soils, ecosystem convergence, land use history, mountain meadow-steppes, semi-natural grasslands, subalpine meadows