A E Astashin^{1, 2}, O E Vatina¹ , O N Pashkin¹ , M M Badin¹ and S N Piyashova¹

¹ Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, 1, Ulyanova street, Nizhny Novgorod, 603005, Russia

² Nizhny Novgorod State University of Engineering and Economics, 22 А, Oktyabrskaya street, Knyaginino, 606340, Russia

Abstract

The territory of the Sergachsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region is located in the north of the forest-steppe zone, at the northern extremity of the Privolzhskaya Upland. Due to favorable agroclimatic conditions, the researched territory is characterized by a high degree of anthropogenic transformation of landscapes, mainly involved in agriculture. Areas of broadleaved forests have been preserved mainly in places, that are inconvenient for plowing – on the steep slopes of river valleys and in ravines. Flat watersheds and sloping slopes have been plowing for several centuries. Thus, the landscape features of the territory traditionally determined the type of economic activity and its territorial boundaries, but often land use planning was carried out on an intuitive level, based on the experience of life in the landscape, but not on a systematic account of the specifics of its components. The long-standing and intensive economic pressure has led to a reduction in forest cover, a decrease in biodiversity, the development of erosion processes, and the degradation of soil cover. Further development of the economy in the researched area requires the adoption of well-thought-out decisions, based on the results of geosystem analysis. During solving problems of territorial planning, nature management, implementation of environmental protection measures, the most effective is the use of a landscape approach. However, until the present, the scheme of landscape differentiation of the territory of the Sergachsky district at the hierarchical level of landscapes has not been developed. The article presents the results of landscape zoning of the territory of the Sergachsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region, performed on the basis of field research, analysis of maps, literature sources and remote sensing data processed using GIS. The presented results are the basis for making management decisions in the researched area.