Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2023 number 2

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate - on the example of comparison of multitemporal landscape maps - a change in anthropogenic meso-landscapes of key areas under the influence of anthropogenic factors over long periods of time. Two settlements were selected as key sites in Primorsky krai: Khrustalnyi and Dalnegorsk. These areas are located within the boundaries of the Sikhote-Alin biosphere region that encompasses undisturbed natural landscapes (including in the Sikhote-Alin Nature Biosphere Reserve), the areas of intense mining and forestry. The basis of the maps of anthropogenic meso-landscapes is formed by material obtained in the course of field research, and by archival aerial photographs. By analyzing these maps, it was possible to determine the degree and nature of change in landscape cover, quantitative indicators of such changes, and the main anthropogenic factors influencing the transformation of landscapes in the study areas. It was established that the areas of anthropogenic meso-landscapes increased mainly due to two anthropogenic factors: mining and development of settlements. For the Khrustalnyi key site, the expansion of the area of anthropogenic meso-landscapes made up more than 100 %, and 10 % for Dalnegorsk. The area of meso-landscapes that changed their class during the periods under consideration was 9 and 7 % of the total area of transformed land for Khrustalny and Dalnegorsk, respectively. The main changes among the classes of meso-landscapes are associated with the urbanization and replacement of traditional wooden buildings with household plots on capital mid-rise buildings as well as the secondary use of existing mining landscapes.