SPATIAL-TEMPORAL TRANSFORMATION OF VEGETATION UPPER PLATEAU OF PRIVOLZHSKAYA UPLAND
Analysis of cartographic sources, archival and fund materials, published data on spore-pollen analysis allowed to suggest that the territory of the upper plateau of the Volga Upland with early Holocene had widespread forests in which a significant role was played by Scots pine, large areas were occupied and steppes. The formation of vegetation is influenced both natural (large amplitude of heights, easily permeable breeds of the Paleogene, deep ground water table, the broad dissemination of loess and solifluction Quaternary deposits) and anthropogenic factors (cutting of forests, ploughing up of steppes, overgrazing). After prolonged exposure to intense anthropogenic vegetation has undergone substantial transformation. The coniferous-broad-leaved forest changed sobole broad-leaved forest, secondary small-leaved forests and pine cultures of different ages, watershed meadow steppes almost entirely under cultivation, and surviving fragments, usually as part of reserves are of secondary origin. Currently, forest-steppe vegetation recovery in spontaneous mode is impossible without science-based anthropogenic impact.