Nomadic transformation of mountain-meadow brown soils (Dystric Cambisols) in the Ukrainian Carpathians

Abstract

The unsystematic and irrational cattle grazing on the polonynas (mountain pastures) forms the secondary spatial heterogeneity of the vegetation and soil cover. Pastoral activities on the polonynas causes the formation of specific nomadic landscape of anthropogenically altered soils. The purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of formation of mountain-meadow brown soils and analysis of changes in their properties as a result of nomadic transformation. The main methods of research applied by us are ecological-genetic, comparative-geographic, cartographic and statistical and lots of laboratory and analytical methods. In field studies, we also used semi-stationary and expeditionary methods of soil investigation. In the highlands of Svydovets and Chornohora arrays we laid down 3 modal plots and compared the properties of virgin and anthropogenically transformed soils. As a result of nomadic transformation in soils, the humus content has decreased, the reaction of the soil solution became more acidic, hydrolytic acidity increased, the composition of the absorbing complex has changed, the qualitative composition of humus was transformed. The anthropogenic soil is characterized by sealing of the soil layer of the genetic horizons with a decrease in the total porosity, which worsens the water-air properties of the soil. As a result of nomadic transformation, the structure aggregates of the humus-accumulative soil horizon changed to prism. There were marked changes in the morphological structure of the genetic profile of soils: there is no sod horizon, the upper genetic horizons are characterized by higher of soil density and specific density of the solid phase, the transitions between the horizons are less pronounced in comparison with the virgin soils.The results of the research serve as arguments for the fact that the ecologically unlimited development of the polonynas leads to the intensification of degradation processes and the formation of specific anthropogenically soils, which differ in their properties and qualities from the virgin soils.