ANTHROPOGENIC TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE LANDSCAPES IN THE EASTERN PART OF BELARUSIAN POLESIE, 19th-21st CENTURIES

Abstract

Due to the relatively high degree of anthropogenic transformation, the landscapes of Belarusian Polesie should be considered natural-anthropogenic, represented by 3 classes, namely agricultural, agricultural-forest and forest (the forestry subclass). The research on the anthropogenic transformations of the landscapes in the eastern part of Belarusian Polesie over the 19th – 21st centuries involves a study of the dynamics of the land use structure as well as an assessment of the anthropogenic transformations and changes in the environmental stability of the landscapes. At the final stage of the study, the structure of natural and anthropogenic landscapes and its temporal changes are determined. It has been established that over 150 years, in the studied region the specific area of built-up and disturbed lands and the specific area of arable land have increased (by 11.5 times and 2 times, respectively), the area of swamps has decreased (by 7.4 times), the specific area of forests and grasslands has remained unchanged. It is in the lacustrine-alluvial and lacustrine-swampy landscapes where the structure of land use has changed to the greatest extent (a significant part of the swamps have been transformed into agricultural and forest lands). It has been found that the greatest anthropogenic transformation has been characteristic of the secondary-moraine, moraine-outwash, and monticulate-moraine-erosive landscapes, which resulted from their significant agricultural development (both in the middle of the 19th and in the early 21st century) as well as the location of major cities in the south of Belarus (Gomel, Mozyr, Rechitsa) within the area of the mentioned landscapes.