Landscape structure of mountain ecotone belt in the Mongun-Taiga massif
Original mesoscale landscape map (1:100 000) based on fieldwork data served the basis for an analysis of altitudinal structure of the Mongun-Taiga massif (3970.5 m above sea level) located in arid sector of Inner Asia. Characteristics of main types of soil and plant communities are presented. The results of cluster analysis showed that there is a high similarity of landscape structure of the altitudinal levels in the range of altitudes 2400-2800 m. It’s allowed to mark out the ecotone altitudinal belt between mountain steppe and glacio-nival belts. The ecotone patterns description was obtained. It should be noted that the revealed Mongun-Taiga ecotone is characterized by approximately equal combination of mesophytic, xerophytic and cryophytic plant associations. It was revealed by the quantitative estimation of the landscape-forming factors and statistical methods that geology-geomorphological characteristics have the priority impact on soil and plant cover formation. In order to take into account the influence of climate on the formation of the landscape of the study area, the simulation of temperature and precipitation spatial distribution was done using high resolution digital terrain models. Such a model is an inevitable part of analysis taking into account that network of meteorological stations is very rare. It was shown that in similar climate conditions edaphic factors have the prime importance in landscape structure genesis. The main contacts of ecotone vegetation patterns were considered. The prevalence of diffusive contact in arid high mountain of Mongun-Taiga was revealed.