Forestland is a natural area of the Northern Hemisphere , characterized by a combination of forest and steppe areas.
In Eurasia, the forest-steppe is stretched in a continuous strip from west to east from the eastern foothills of the Carpathians to the Altai . In Russia, the border with the forest zone passes through cities such as Kursk and Kazan . To the west and east of this strip, the continuous strike of the forest-steppe is disturbed by the influence of the mountains.
Separate areas of forest-steppes are located within the Middle Danube Plain , a number of intermountain basins of Southern Siberia , Northern Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the Far East, and also occupy part of the Sunlyao Plain in northeast China .
In North America, forest-steppes stretch from north to south, across the Great Plains , up to 38 °. sh.
The forest-steppe climate is temperate, usually with moderately hot summers and moderately cool winters. Evaporation slightly prevails over precipitation.
When moving to the south, the forest-steppe gradually contains less and less trees and steppe areas, the climate gets hotter, less precipitation, and the forest-steppe goes into the steppe. When moving to the north, reverse processes occur, the precipitation becomes greater, the climate is cooler, and the forest-steppe passes into the forest zone.
Content
Term
The term forest-steppe became widely used in the Russian scientific literature after the works of V. V. Dokuchaev . He borrowed it from P. N. Krylov .
Until this time, the term pre-steppe was often used, introduced by A. N. Beketov [1] .
Climate
Forest-steppe is one of the natural zones that make up the temperate climate zone . The main feature of the forest-steppe zone is the presence of a combination of meadow landscapes with a cover of grassy plants and forest belts .
The forest-steppe climate is usually temperate continental . Annual precipitation is 600 mm. Sometimes evaporation is almost equal to precipitation. In the longitude of Moscow, winter in the forest-steppe is moderately mild, the average January temperature in the city of Kharkiv (the southern boundary of the forest-steppe, Ukraine) is −7 degrees, to about –10 degrees in the city of Orel , where the mixed forest zone begins. Sometimes in the forest-steppe in winter both severe frosts and mild winters can rage. The absolute minimum in the zone of forest-steppe is usually equal to −36 ... −40 degrees.
Summer in the forest-steppe is often hot and arid, especially in the south of the forest-steppe, but on average it is still less hot than in the steppe zone. Sometimes it can be cold and rainy, but this is rare. Most often, the summer is characterized by unstable, unstable weather , which can be very different, depending on the activity of certain atmospheric processes . The average July temperature, depending on the location, ranges from approximately 18.5 degrees to 23 degrees Celsius , however, it is quite possible that there will be strong deviations from these values in individual years. The absolute maximum in the forest-steppe, depending on the latitude, is usually slightly below or around 40 ° C in the shade. However, the heat in the forest-steppe happens less frequently than the severe cold, while in the steppe zone - on the contrary.
One of the features of the forest-steppe is that the flora and fauna of the forest-steppe are average between the flora and fauna of the zone of mixed forests and the steppe zone. In the forest-steppe grow and drought-resistant plants , and plants characteristic of the forest, more northern zone. The same applies to the animal world.
Plant World
Difficult alternation of picturesque arrays of deciduous forests (less often coniferous forests ) with areas of grassy steppes is typical for watersheds. In Europe and in the European part of Russia, light deciduous forests of oak (oak), linden , chestnut , ash , etc. are typical. There are also bayrachny forests .
In Siberia , small-leafed island birch-aspen groves are common.
The forest-steppes also include prairie in North America , savanna in Africa and Australia .
Animal World
In the forest-steppe there are no special species of animals peculiar only to it. Typically, steppe species ( ground squirrel , woodchuck , bustard , etc.) are combined and exist here with typical forest representatives ( squirrel , marten , elk ) and the like. The species composition varies from steppe to forest when moving to the north.
Forest steppe protection
The natural landscapes of the forest-steppe were subjected to a very strong and prolonged anthropogenic impact , mainly due to fertile soils . Most of the forest-steppe is plowed and intensively used for farming - the traditional occupation of the indigenous population. Megafauna almost destroyed. For the protection and study of forest-steppe, national parks and reserves have been created, including the Volga forest-steppe , Galichya gora , Voroninsky reserve , etc.
Gallery
"Bald mountains", reserve "Belogorye" (Belgorod region)
"Yamskaya steppe" reserve "Belogorye"
Forest-steppe (Volgograd region)
Reserve "Volga forest-steppe" (Penza region)
Forest-steppe (Bashkiria)
Forest-steppe in winter (Kharkiv region, Ukraine )
See also
- Bayrak forests
Notes
- ↑ Chebotaryova L. А. Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev: A Biographical Sketch // Collected Works. T. 9. M: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1961. C. 87
Links
- Nesterov A.I., Fedotov V.I. On the issue of the northern border of the forest-steppe zone on the Central Russian Upland // Vestnik VSU. Series: Geography. Geoecology. 2005, No. 2. P. 151-154.