Using satellite data-based geoinformation systemsfor analysis of boreal ecosystems biodiversityin the Kurgalskiy wildlife preserve
Kurgalskiy biotopes were mapped using data obtained in 2001-2008 by satellite photography in the visible and infrared spectral ranges (Landsat TM, ASTER, ALOS-AVNIR-2) and by different modes of satellite radar measurements (PALSAR). The data were integrated in a geoiformations system and compared with field observations (1995-2009). These remote data suggest that the relief of the Kurgalskiy peninsular comprises several multilevel planes, which are somewhat complicated by ancient dunes and beach ridges. The planes might be formed in the course Holocene Baltic transgressions. For the first time, the main plant associations of Kurgalskiy preserve were described in terms of the Braun-Blanquet (instead of the dominant system adopted in the USSR) allowing data integration in the unified European floral system. Several syntaxons found at the association level are rare for the whole Northwest of Russia. The maximal biodiversity of forest ecosystems is characteristic of the areas that were insular during late-Pleistocene and Holocene Baltic transgressions and preserved relatively thermophilic species and associations, as revealed by analysis of relationships between boreal forest flora with hemiboreal and nemoral forest flora at planes were different levels are aligned