Институт степи УрО РАН приглашает к участию в тематическом заседании Transformation of the Eurasian grassland landscapes: the patterns, drivers and implications (Трансформация степных ландшафтов Евразии: закономерности, факторы и последствия) в рамках 1-й международной конференции IALE-Россия, проводимой на базе Географического факультета Московского государственного университета им. М.В. Ломоносова, Москва 14-18 сентября 2020.
The Eurasian grasslands are vulnerable ecosystems and play an important role in global biogeochemical cycling, host biodiversity, but also important for the economy and societal well being. The Eurasian grasslands have been substantively altered by massive agricultural expansion during the 20 century and recent partial or complete deactivation/ abandonment of farming in some parts of the Eurasian grassland belt. However, the patterns of land transformation across the Eurasian grassland belt still remain elusive, as well as implications for the landscape re-configuration and various ecological processes. Concurrently, other pressures, such as a change in climatic conditions may alter the ecosystem functioning of Eurasian grasslands. We invite the talks that present the recent advances in research on the landscape -change precesses across the Eurasian grasslands, the interplay among the different components of grassland landscapes and recent progress about the understanding of the driving mechanisms of grassland transformation in Eurasia. We particularly invite the studies stemming from landscape ecology, landscape science, land-use modeling and spatial analysis. Studies with the elements of Earth Observation are also welcomed, but have to reflect the major scope of the session and the conference.