ISSN 1875-3728, Geography and Natural Resources, 2012, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 10-18. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2012. Original Russian Text © A.A. Frolov, A.K. Cherkashin, 2012, published in Geography and Natural Resources, 2012, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 14-24. GEOGRAPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS Altitudinal Gradient as a Complex Factor for Formation of Landscape Microzonality and Geosystem Serialness A.A. Frolov and A. K. Cherkashin V. B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1, Ulan-Batorskaya st., Irkutsk, 664033, Russia e-mail: f-v1984@mail.ru e-mail: cherk@mail.icc.ru Recieved March 23, 2011 Abstract—Using the biogeocenoses of taiga geosystems as an example, we employed the method of correlation analysis and the technique for analyzing the main components to demonstrate that a relative altitude is a complex indicator of serialness of landscape-level geosystems, relecting not only the particular geographical signatures but also a certain system of conjugation of the portions of landscape and the force of spatial and typological connections that causes the concrete facies to deviate from zonal normal. Complex indicators: the main components, and the correlation and regression coeicients, were used to reveal a functional correlation of the sets of BGC attributes between themselves and with a relative altitude of the location. DOI: 10.1134/S1875372812010027 Keywords: slope microzonality, relative altitude, serialness of geosystems, method of principal components. as the mountainous territories are concerned, F.A. Maksyutov [11] recognizes slope microzones of landscapes of middle mountains and low mountains as well as the mountain-forest and foothill-forest microzones associated with altitudinal zonality. Within the altitudinal landscape belt, slope microzones characteristic for it are identiied. he climatic and other physical-geographical parameters are known to vary with altitude thus determining the diversity of landscape microzones, composition and productivity of vegetation cover. Even with small altitude diferences, the gradients of intra-landscape diferentiation are comparable with latitudinal gradients of physical-geographical characteristics. According to A.A. Krauklis [5], this regularity is ensured by the existence of several levels of altitudinal diferentiation of geosystems: 1) intra- landscape microzonal; 2) altitudinal-zonal landscape; 3) intra-regional provincial, and 4) regional. In the last case, physical-geographical countries are represented by massifs of lat or mountainous territories of a diferent geological age. hese regularities are clearly conspicuous in a classiication of geosystems provided in the legend to the map of landscapes in the southern part of East Siberia [12]. In this case, the regional altitudinal-zonal diferentiation of facies of diferent landscapes and their division inside of landscape geoms into groups of facies according to the degree of serialness implies the manifestation of the modifying inluence of local factors on geosystems which are closest in their characteristics to geosystems of zonal normal. 10 INTRODUCTION In the landscape science, a holistic concept to provide an explanation for the regularities of the structure, dynamics and evolution of geographical systems has evolved from results of remote-sensing, route and station-based investigations [1–7]. he knowledge thus acquired is largely based on quantitative analysis of observational evidence; it is illustrated by functional and statistical connections and partly supported by results of multidimensional statistical analysis [8, 9]. On the other hand, instructive quantitative interpretations of the fundamental geographical laws are lacking because of the multifactorialness and ambiguity of the inluence of geographical conditions on landscape-forming processes and on results of their realization. his brings up the problem of identifying and calculating complex physical-geographical characteristics making it possible to rank geosystems with respect to one another, and to assess the possible changes in their natural order under various luctuations in the background climatic environment and anthropogenic impacts. he issues relating to the intra-regional and landscape diferentiation were discussed in a study into slope microzonality [10] which is formed as a paragenetic landscape system, or a catena, and where the landscape-forming processes connect diferent parts of the slope via a matter-energy exchange. F.N. Mil’kov [10] identiies four landscape microzones: near-watershed, upper-, middle- and lower-slope. Also, he recognizes the altitudinal variants of microzonality: microzonality of lowlands and elevations. As far