Lazareva V.G.,  Bananova V.A., Nguyen van Zung DYNAMICS OF MODERN PASTURE DIGRESSION ON THE QUATERNARY TERRACES OF THE NORTH-WESTERN CASPIAN REGION // Arid ecosystems. 2020. V. 26. № 4 (85). P. 26-34. | PDF

In this article we discuss the results of long-term researches of desertification (degradation) in the dry lands of the Northwest Caspian Basin. We consider the modern vegetation to be the result of pastures overload caused by cattle, and determined desertification as a process of unification which leads to decrease in species diversity in the plant communities and, therefore, unification of vegetation cover. The complex structure of soil and vegetation cover, common for Caspian Region, vanishes, and the native plant communities are replaced with groups of their transit derivatives. The quantitative evaluation of desertification includes stages (classes) of poaching, criteria of pasture digression and their indicators (plant communities). They determine the ecological and dynamical series of plant communities representing the process of degradation. Our research showed that out of all quaternary terraces the vegetation of the youngest one (New Caspian) is more vulnerable to degradation.

Keywords: Caspian quaternary terraces, pasture digression, indicators of pasture poaching, ecological and dynamical series of plant communities under desertification, unified vegetation.

DOI: 10.24411/1993-3916-2020-10115