Candidate of Agricultural Sciences,

Senior Researcher, Department of Landscape Planning and Aerospace Research Methods, All-Russian Scientific and Researh Institute of Agroforestry

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Abstract. The state of lands in arid areas of southern Russia is entirely dependent on the state of natural steppe, dry steppe and semi-desert ecosystems. The study of vegetation traditionally enjoys a commanding position in synecological studies, because plant communities form the framework of terrestrial ecosystems. In this paper we give a detailed geobothanical description of the test plots made as a result of field research in the semi-desert areas of Kalmykia. In addition, we obtained photo samples of soils that were subsequently processed, analyzed and entered into the database of soils and used as an identifier of rangeland degradation, located in the semi-arid zone of the country. The creation of this database will improve the quality of remote sensing in the region. In the course of computer processing of materials using GIS technology, the geoinformation analysis of land degradation in the studied territory was held, and the area of these lands according to the levels of degradation was calculated.

Key words: arid zone, phytocenosis, agrolandscape, soil degradation, satellite images, geoinformation mapping, pastures, projective cover, aerospace information.