Relationships between abiotic and biotic features in the forest ecosystem Zhiguli

To investigate the forest ecosystem Zhiguli, a modified definition of sites is introduced that is based on taking thermal regime of slopes into account by using a corresponding topographic attribute, insolation. Grids and map images of sites and phytocenoses of the ecosystem are calculated using methods of predictive ecological mapping with field measurements and digital elevation model as input data. It is shown that the map image of sites based on the modified definition is closer to the phytocenoses spatial pattern than similar map image of sites with thermal regime of slopes not taken into account.