Background to the Natural Landscape and Consequences of the Ecosystem Conservation

Abstract

Human impact on vegetation and soils in the south-western Siberian steppes can be traced back several centuries. However, particularly large impact occurred with the Virgin Lands Campaign between 1954 and 1963 and all agricultural activities thereafter. Concurrently, climate change became relevant in this area, with potentially large impacts on productivity and organic carbon storage of the steppe soils. The goal of the first chapter is to identify the landscape evolution of the Kulunda steppe under human impact, considering both land use and climate change and to summarize the consequences of ecosystem conversion. Part I of this book consists of 14 chapters. Chapters 2–5 describe the general natural setting of the Kulunda steppe, while Chapters 6–9 explain the history of human impact on the Kulunda steppe, and Chapters 10–14 address the consequences of ecosystem conversion for vegetation and soils. With this, Part I of this book lays the ground for Parts II–IV, which address the socioeconomic factors of land use, the development of sustainable agronomic techniques, and the development and implementation of a stakeholder platform to support site and climate-adapted methods of land use and soil management.