Influence of Landscape Features on the Dynamics of Forest Overgrowth on the Former Agricultural Lands of the Perm Krai

A study of the overgrowth dynamics on agricultural lands has been conducted since the 1990s, representing the beginning of a significant decline in their cultivation intensity. The total area of the overgrown agricultural lands in Perm krai accounted for 58.8% of the total area of its agricultural lands in 1985. The boundaries of the forest cover have been mapped using remote sensing methods and archived satellite imagery of the medium spatial resolution. The analysis of the process dynamics has been carried out within the boundaries of the plain landscapes of Perm krai with allowance for the soil contour boundaries. It has been established that the main natural factors of land differentiation in terms of the scale and rate of their withdrawal from the agricultural use are the small scale of agricultural lands and differences in the soil fertility. The least fertile, as well as the most difficult-to-cultivate soils, are the most susceptible to the forest overgrowth. The most fertile soils are overgrown with forests later, as agricultural activity declines.