Search Results (6)

This paper shows the results of a study on the morphometric, hydrophysical, and hydrochemical indicators of Lake Burabay, North Kazakhstan. The Burabay Protected Area, also known as Burabay National Park or Kokshetau National Park, is a protected natural area located in the north of Kazakhstan. It encompasses a diverse landscape characterized by lakes, forests, and unique rock formations. This analysis includes an eco-toxicological assessment of the hydrochemical composition of waters and benthal deposits by studying the content of metals. The degree of mineralization, ionic composition of water, hydrogen index, pollution index, and water quality class were also determined. Reductions in the area and depth of the lake were identified. The pollution index is 1.5–1.7, which belongs to class 3—moderately polluted. Relatively high concentrations of cadmium, nickel, copper, and arsenic were found in the lake sediments. Therefore, Lake Burabay and its surrounding ecosystem face certain environmental risks and potential water pollution. Although the increase in the number of tourists did not have a significant impact on the water pollution index in Lake Burabay, some of the common threats that impact the area are induced by touristic development, agricultural practices and industrial pollution. Significant efforts should be made to reduce these risks using the environmental indicators as a reference for control environmental quality. Full article

Long-term spatiotemporal Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) analysis is an objective tool for assessing patterns of sustainable development (SD). The basic purpose of this research is to define the Driving Mechanisms (DM) and assess the trend of SD in the Burabay district (Kazakhstan), which includes a city, an agro-industrial complex, and a national natural park, based on the integrated use of spatiotemporal data (STD), economic, environmental, and social (EES) indicators. The research was performed on the GEE platform using Landsat and Random Forest. The DM were studied by Multiple Linear Regression and Principal Component Analysis. SD trend was assessed through sequential transformations, aggregations, and integrations of 36 original STD and EES indicators. The overall classification accuracy was 0.85–0.97. Over the past 23 years, pasture area has changed the most (−16.69%), followed by arable land (+14.72%), forest area increased slightly (+1.81%), and built-up land—only +0.16%. The DM of development of the AOI are mainly economic components. There has been a noticeable drop in the development growth of the study area in 2021, which is apparently a consequence of the COVID-19. The upshots of the research can serve as a foundation for evaluating SD and LULC policy. Full article

The problem of assessing the impact of pollution in protected areas prompted us to apply a combined method of bioindication and spatial mapping of phytoplankton data from six lakes in the Burabay National Nature Park in Northern Kazakhstan. The issue of monitoring planning was quite acute for this landscape-homogeneous area among the Kulunda steppes. Phytoplankton in each of the six lakes was collected in the summer season of 2019 at a total of 54 sampling stations. In total, 139 species of algae and cyanobacteria from seven taxonomic phyla were found in the phytoplankton of the Burabay Park during the study period. Three phyla were the richest in species: diatoms, green algae, and cyanobacteria. Based on species richness, abundance, and biomass, as well as bioindicators and calculated indices of organic pollution and toxic effects, the current ecological state of the lake was assessed as being under the influence of pollution, of the mesotrophic type and with a high capacity for self-purification. Statistical mapping, calculated by the correlation of the species composition and categories of indicators, revealed the zones of anthropogenic impact located on the shores of the lake, and the water of the lakes as weakly alkaline, quality classes 2–3. An increase in the number of cyanobacteria in coastal communities was revealed, which may be associated with an increase in the biogenic load on the lake ecosystems. The results of the analysis and mapping of indicators revealed that two major factors regulated phytoplankton: salinity and organic pollution. The sources of organic pollution are mostly associated with the intake of substances from the coastal zone, where resorts, roads, and settlements are located. Full article

The issues of forestry and the economic assessment of ecosystem services of forests, in the example of the national park “Burabay” in Kazakhstan, located in the northern part of the country, are investigated in this study. The relevance of forest ecosystem services, such as carbon fixation, oxygen emission, soil conservation from erosion and precipitation redistribution, are important environmental factors that contribute to the conservation of natural capital. Studies by domestic and international scientists show that the value of ecosystem services of forests is much higher than the cost of wood and its material products. Consequently, the ecosystem services of forests should be valued in monetary terms and considered in the context of the national wealth of the country. The main purpose of this research is to establish the value of non-market forest products while considering the prevailing natural and socio-economic conditions. The methods of the ecosystem approach for assessing the above ecosystem services of forests in value terms were implemented, and the real value of the multifunctional value of forests has been revealed. The results obtained can be used in planning measures to improve the sustainability of forests, ecotourism organizations and management decision-making. Full article

The Burabay National Natural Park unites six lakes located among the steppe landscape, with Lake Borovoe being the most visited among them. The phytoplankton of the protected Lake Borovoe was examined in the summer season of 2019, at eight stations, which were defined for the first time as the monitoring sites on the lake surface. Altogether, 72 algae and cyanobacteria species from seven taxonomic phyla were found in the Lake Borovoe phytoplankton during the study period. The most species-rich were three phyla: diatoms, green algae, and cyanobacteria. The average phytoplankton abundance was 3012.6 cells L⁻¹, and biomass was 2383.41 mg L⁻¹. The ecological status of the lake in 2019 was assessed based on the species richness, abundance, biomass, and calculated indices of organic pollution and toxic impact. The statistical mapping, calculated community similarity, correlation, and Redundancy Analysis (RDA) revealed zones affected by human impact. These were located in the lake shores and low-alkaline water with the saprobity index of 1.63–2.00. This is typical for naturally clean lakes, indicating the oligotrophic-to-mesotrophic status of the lake during the study period. The increase in cyanobacteria species in coastal communities can be associated with an increase in the biogenic load on the lake ecosystem in recent times. Therefore, our multivariate analysis allowed us to assess the ecological state of Lake Borovoe, which can be the result of the interaction of many external environmental factors, such as climatic conditions, long-term accumulation of organic substances, the intensity and duration of anthropogenic press, and internal lake processes such as the development of algae communities. The results suggest a tendency for the eutrophication of Lake Borovoe to increase because of pollution coming from the human impact zones on the lake shores. Full article

The enrichment of the protected Borovoe Lake with nutrients has taken place within the last 100 years, from the moment the first resort was formed on its shores. The purpose of this study was to assess the current ecological state of Borovoe based on the structure of zooplankton. According to the chemical data, in the summer of 2019, the content of nutrients in the water was, relatively, not high; the content of heavy metals was very low. Twenty-seven species were found in zooplankton. The average abundance of zooplankton was 988.8 thousand ind./m³ with a biomass of 1.52 g/m³. Rotifera dominated. Cladocera sub-dominated. The Shannon index values were 2.31 bit/ind. and 2.57 bit/mg; the values of Clarke’s W-statistics and Δ-Shannon were negative. The abundance of zooplankton increased more than nine times, but the average individual mass of an organism decreased from 0.0112 to 0.0016 mg over the past decade. Despite the relatively low content of nutrients, the structure of zooplankton demonstrated that the nutritional load on Lake Borovoe is currently close to critical. Statistical mapping of the data and redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the primary source of lake pollution is the village of Borovoe and sanatoriums located on the southeast and northwest coasts. Full article