Assessment of species composition, productivity and functionality of grassland in the Greater Caucasus (Georgia, Kazbegi Region) by means of remote sensing
High mountain ecosystems and their services are of global importance. They take 20 percent of the terrestrial surface, offer habitat to humans, a diverse fauna and flora, and play a key role for fresh water supply. But for all that, they are prone to global change. Remote, high mountain regions, esp...
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| Format: | Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
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| Online Access: | http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hebis:26-opus-134995 https://jlupub.ub.uni-giessen.de//handle/jlupub/17348 https://doi.org/10.22029/jlupub-16726 |
| Summary: | High mountain ecosystems and their services are of global importance. They take 20 percent of the terrestrial surface, offer habitat to humans, a diverse fauna and flora, and play a key role for fresh water supply. But for all that, they are prone to global change. Remote, high mountain regions, especially from former Soviet Union States experience a strong change in the agricultural sector, mainly the abandonment of agricultural land use, which impacts socio economy, ecosystem functioning and biodiversity in the end. The unique species composition of high mountain grassland and the related ecosystem services, such as biomass or erosion mitigation are most likely to change with the ongoing abandonment in high mountain regions, mapping and monitoring of high mountain grassland properties and key ecosystem processes is therefore highly needed. Thus, this study focuses on modelling the vegetation composition, biomass and plant functional groups (content of graminoid, herbaceous and legume plants) of the subalpine grassland, as well as the recognition of shrub encroachment, by means of remote sensing. Shrub encroachment has already been observed in the study region and plays a key role in many arctic and alpine environments. The identification of species identity is of great importance to assess potential consequences. The species-rich, extensive grassland in the isolated Kazbegi region, Greater Caucasus, Georgia is the main winter fodder source and thus of importance for the local subsistence agriculture, based on pastured cattle for dairy production. The results of the vegetation analysis show that the subalpine grassland vegetation is closely related to the physical site conditions (elevation a.s.l. and exposition to the east), characterized by broad transitions between grassland types with distinct attributes, such as aboveground biomass, vegetation cover, species richness and plant functional groups. The shrub stands of Betula litwinowii, Rhododendron caucasicum and Hippophae rhamnoides are of distinct growth ... |
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