Long-term Changes in the Stability of Agricultural Landscapes in the Areas of Irrigated Agriculture of the Ukraine Steppe Zone

Abstract

Spatio-temporal assessment of the sustainability of agricultural landscapes over a long period (1892–2020 – 130 years) was carried out on the basis of archival spatial data for the territory of the Dnieper district of the Tauride province and modern data from the State Agency for Water Resources of Ukraine. Taking into account the historical patterns of the development of agriculture on the territory of the Dnieper district and the results of spatial modeling in 1892, territories with low (4.1 thousand hectares – 0.3% of the total area) and medium (310.3 thousand hectares – 23.8%) level of sustainability of agricultural landscapes, which are located in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, were identified. However, the large-scale development of the territory for agricultural land and the development of irrigated agriculture have led to the activation of land degradation processes, soil fertility and the deterioration of the stability of agricultural landscapes over large areas. As a result of spatial modeling, the state for 2020 in the irrigation zone recorded significant areas of agricultural land and adjacent territories with low (179.1 thousand hectares – 13.7% of the total area) and medium (419.0 thousand hectares – 32.1%) stability level. A comparative analysis of the stability of agrolandscapes for two time periods (1892 and 2020) showed that large-scale agricultural land development and an imbalanced land-use culture lead to constant and almost irreversible processes of reducing the stability of agrolandscapes in the areas of irrigation reclamation.