The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was the analysis of literary sources of domestic and foreign scientists. The geoecological assessment was carried out on the basis of modern means of landscape and ecological planning, dendrochronological methods of research, expeditionary research, laboratory soil analysis data; processing of received data in geoinformation software. The assessment of ecosystem services was carried out on the basis of the received geoecological assessment data, as well as on the basis of generally accepted methods of assessment of ecosystem services.
The materials for the dissertation were open data of cadastral division, data of statistical reports, open data of the analytical portal of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine", Regional reports on the state of the natural environment, collected and processed by the author during the expedition and camera stages.
The following tasks were set and solved in the work: an analysis of literary sources on the problems of rational use of forest landscapes and ecosystem services in Ukraine and the world was carried out; the structure of the forest fund of the Kharkiv region was analyzed; an assessment of the geoecological state of forests was carried out, by means of landscape and ecological planning; the analysis and assessment of the range of ecosystem services of forest landscapes of the Kharkiv region was carried out; directions for the implementation of ecosystem services in specific forest landscapes have been developed in accordance with the type of terrain and their intended use.
The list of ecosystem services of forest landscapes has been defined and summarized in accordance with the generally accepted classification of ecosystem services:
- support services include the provision of wood, secondary use of the forest, collection of vegetation and its components (mushrooms, berries, tree sap, etc.), including medicinal plants;
- regulation services include carbon sequestration by components of the forest landscape (living phytomass, dead phytomass, forest litter, soil);
- cultural services include provision of recreation and tourism, conducting ecological and educational activities on the territory of forest landscapes, spiritual and aesthetic values;
- supporting services include ensuring habitat, genetic and biological diversity.
Within the inventory stage of landscape and ecological planning, the natural conditions and economic use of forest landscapes of the Kharkiv region were analyzed.
The complex landscape differentiation of the territory of the Kharkiv region caused the fragmentation of the spatial arrangement of forest landscapes within the region. The main types of forest landscapes of the Kharkiv region include:
1. interfluvial forest landscapes – watershed forests and wooded areas located on river watersheds, as a rule, these are broad-leaved forests;
2. valley forest landscapes – forest massifs of pine terraces of rivers, composed mainly of pine and areas of deciduous forests of river floodplains;
3. beam-valley forest landscapes are mainly deciduous or mixed forests, planted to prevent erosion of the slopes of beams and ravines.
The territory of the Vasyshchiv Forestry of the Zhovtnevy Forest Farm was chosen as a model site for the study, as this territory represents all the above-mentioned types of forest landscapes of the Kharkiv region.
A spatio-temporal assessment of the state of forest landscapes of the model plot of the Vasyshchiv Forestry of the Zhovtnevy Forest Farm was carried out. To carry out the assessment, an arsenal of landscape-ecological methods was used to analyze spatio-temporal changes in landscape conditions, as well as dendrochronological methods - with the help of identifying the peculiarities of the reaction of the radial growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) to climate change in the stands of the Left Bank Forest Steppe using the example of a medieval pure pine plantation.
The influence of military operations on the state of forest landscapes and possible approaches to the further assessment of ecosystem services, taking into account the consequences of war, are analyzed. The internal and external conflicts of nature use of the model site of the Vasyshchiv forestry were assessed on the basis of landscape and ecological planning methods.
An analysis of available ecosystem services of forest landscapes of the Kharkiv region was carried out. Spatial differences of forest landscapes in terms of the potential of providing ecosystem services have been determined.
An assessment of the value of ecosystem services of various forest landscapes of Kharkiv region was carried out. The use of the concept of ecosystem services based on the geoecological assessment of forest landscapes to ensure their sustainable development is substantiated. Further opportunities for using the assessment of ecosystem services based on geoecological assessment have been determined.
