GEOINFORMATION ANALYSIS OF AGRO AND FOREST LANDSCAPES
An assessment of the condition of the territory and forest shelter belts and forests using a set of GIS technologies and remote sensing data was carried out in the Volgograd region, on the lower Volga territory along the left bank of the river Don. Due to GIS and the creation of electronic thematic maps, it is possible to assess the protective, logging forest strips and identify the main forms of degradation in the landscapes of the research region as well as to make their mapping and modeling using GIS technologies. The created map of reforestation assessment of forest stands, reflect the special value of the analysis evaluation of land suitability. A special role in the implementation of the task occupy geoinformation technology (GIS technology), significantly increasing the accuracy and reliability of the survey. Recommendations on agroforestry arrangement of the investigated agroecological landscapes are made. A comprehensive approach that includes the typical techniques of agroforestry, assessment of the structure of agricultural land in the region in research proves that the grounds are in unfavorable soil and climatic conditions and is ecologically unstable. This entails the development of negative degradation processes (deflation, erosion, secondary salinization, raising the groundwater level, etc.), reduced crop yields, loss of arable land productivity. The landscape-ecological investigations in the region in study provide an opportunity to establish decoding features of major agricultural land and forest plantations. The area of forest stands in the study is 12427,6 ha, which is 1/8 part of the whole study area and is in poor condition and requires a special approach to environmental management of agro-forest landscapes that will stabilize the properties, create ecologocally sustainable territory by adapting economic activities.