GEOINFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN ASSESSING THE STATE OF FOREST COMMUNITIES IN THE MIDDLE VOLGA REGION

Kozlova Anastasia Aleksandrovna

The present study was conducted in order to show the possibility of using geoinformation technologies (methods of digital mapping and analysis of mapped data) in monitoring the state of forest communities. Thus, the Middle Volga region is a complex of territories heterogeneous in forest conditions and serving as a habitat for a number of ant species used in this work as bioindicators. The ability of red forest ants to form complexes in phytocenoses of a certain type can provide information about the state of the forest, its age characteristics, productivity, soil conditions on the territory of the phytocenosis. Thus, the results of this study are an example of the use of geoinformation systems in environmental monitoring of specific regions and can form the basis of environmental protection activities of protected areas associated with these subjects of the Russian Federation.

Keywords:geoinformation systems, digital mapping, Middle Volga region, phytocenoses, red forest ants