Assessment of Damage from Soil and Land Degradation at Three Hierarchical Levels of the Administrative and Economic Structure of the Russian Federation: Subjects, Municipalities, and Agricultural Farmsстатья
Аннотация:Abstract—The damage from soil and land degradation was assessed at three hierarchical levels (the oblast asa whole, municipality, and agricultural sector) of the spatial organization of six test oblasts of the RussianFederation (Volgograd, Belgorod, Kaliningrad, Vladimir, Samara, and Penza oblasts). The indicators of soiland land degradation for all test objects included a decrease in the content of exchangeable potassium, adecrease in the content of mobile phosphorus, a decrease in the content of humus, and a change in the soilacidityindex. In addition, the indicator of soil solonetzization was used for the test objects of Volgogradoblast, soil erosion was used for Belgorod oblast, and the metabolic coefficient (qCO2) of soils was used forKaliningrad oblast. It was found that the minimum and maximum values of the specific total damage fromdegradation can be found for oblasts with a similar composition of the soil cover (Saratov and Belgorodoblast, respectively, where chernozem soils predominate). When the values of the specific total damage fromsoil and land degradation are close to each other at different hierarchical levels of the spatial organization ofoblasts (Vladimir, Saratov, Belgorod, and, partly, Penza oblasts), in terms of the intensity and scale of manifestationof the degradation processes under study, the agricultural economy is “typical” for the entire municipaldistrict, and the municipal district is “typical” for the entire oblast.Keywords: agro-exhaustion, soil erosion, test oblasts (subjects) of the Russian Federation