Regional System of Natural Protected Areas of the Crimea: State and Geoecological Problems

The article analyzes the features of the system of specially protected natural territories (protected areas) at the regional level on the example of the Crimean Peninsula, as a high biological and landscape diversity. The purpose of the study is to assess the current structure of the regional system of protected areas of the Crimean Peninsula, the prospects for its development and identify the main geoecological problems, mainly related to the consequences of significant recreational and agricultural environmental management. To study the geoecological problems of regional protected areas in the model reserves “Cape Aya” and “Baydarsky”, field geobotanical descriptions were carried out, reserves of terrestrial phytomass, spatial features of nature management, the stage of recreational digression and the level of pollution were estimated. The mapping scheme of the protected areas of the peninsula made it possible to determine the representativeness of the regional system of territorial nature protection. Protected areas tend mainly to the mountainous and south-coastal regions of Crimea, while there are not enough protected sites in steppe landscapes. It has been revealed that the leading threats to the conservation of biodiversity in the protected areas of Crimea are unregulated recreation and associated pollution, the expansion of nature management and habitat reduction. The maximum transformation of the soil and vegetation cover was noted in the coastal strip of the Cape Aya nature reserve under conditions of abnormal recreational loads — up to the third stage of recreational digression. In the conditions of the intermountain basins of the Baydarsky reserve, residential zones are expanding and habitats are fragmenting. To reduce the severity of geoecological problems, it is recommended to increase the area of protected areas by creating new facilities and expanding existing ones, rationing anthropogenic loads and observing the regime of facilities.