Landscape Invariants–Order Parmeters of a Dynamic System

Abstract

The article considers theoretical and methodological substantiation of identifying invariants problem in nonlinear dynamic systems. Invariance in context of stable spatio-temporal structures in a landscape was proposed by V.B. Sochava in 1961. The accumulation of long-term series of landscape observations by means of multispectral imaging made it possible to identify invariants in practice. An analysis of Landsat multispectral measurements from 1987 to 2022 for the southern taiga landscape (Central Forest State Nature Biosphere Reserve) shows that invariants identified as order parameters primarily determine total aboveground vegetation biomass, the water content in vegetation and soils, and the intensity of photosynthesis, i.e. bioproduction process. The proposed scheme for analyzing time series of remote sensing data makes it possible to assess landscape cover at the time of survey with respect to invariants and to identify the main control parameters that determine changes in environmental conditions and self-development of geosystems. The assessment of vegetation and relief contribution to formation of invariants structure was made to reveal invariants physical meaning. The results showed that relief has little effect on order parameters, and vegetation cover make the greatest contribution to invariant structure formation. Since invariants make it possible to identify the most stationary states, they can be used to solve applied problems in agriculture and forestry, as well as in the assessment of various ecosystem services.