SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL CHANGES IN THE LAND COVER STRUCTURE OF THE SLOVECZANSKО-OVRUCHSKY RIDGE

Abstract

Based on the analysis of remote sensing data using GIS methods, the peculiarities of the structure and spatial and temporal dynamics of land cover in the territory of the Slovechansko-Ovruchsky ridge were determined, the spatial and temporal analysis of the dynamics of the ridge’s land cover was carried out, and the relationship between the structure of land cover and the characteristics of landscape biodiversity was established. For the spatial and temporal analysis of the land cover dynamics of the studied region, data from the Sentinel-2 spacecraft were used. Preliminary processing and classification of satellite images was performed in the Google Earth Engine cloud service. The automatic clustering algorithm using the k-mean clustering method was used to classify the satellite images. Optimal differentiation of land cover was achieved by identifying 50 classes. Since such a classification results in an excessive number of land cover classes, the next step was to reclassify the results using Q-gis. The Crosclassification algorithm implemented in the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) was used to detect temporal changes in land cover. The classification of satellite images of the Slovechansko-Ovruchsky ridge territory resulted in the identification of four main classes of land cover: coniferous (pine) forest, deciduous forest and shrubs, meadows and agrocenoses, and water bodies. The analysis of spatial and temporal changes in the land cover of the ridge revealed that active forestry use of pine forests is taking place on its territory. Significant areas of «fresh» logging are observed in the northern and western parts of the ridge. At the same time, there are significant areas of pine forest restoration (both natural and forestry). Losses of deciduous forests and shrubs are somewhat less than in the case of conifers, due to the fact that most of their areas are classified as nature reserves. At the same time, recovery is mainly taking place in the northern part of the ridge as a result of forestry activities. In other areas, recovery is likely to occur naturally. The economic use of the forests of the Slovechansko-Ovruchsky ridge is quite balanced. Losses of deciduous forests and shrubs are likely related to the return of fallow land to agricultural use. The area of water bodies is relatively stable. Geobotanical areas are well differentiated by the structure of land cover on satellite images. Thus, the territory of Chervonsko-Horodetskyi geobotanical region is characterized by the predominance of coniferous and deciduous forests, while the territory of Ovruch geobotanical region is characterized by the predominance of agrocenoses in the land cover. Within these districts, individual geobotanical tracts differ only in the ratio of certain land cover types.