Архив метки: steppe zone

THE ACTUAL VEGETATION MAP FOR THE TERRITORY OF DISTRIBUTION OF SAIGA TATARICA TATARIC L. POPULATION IN THE NORTH-WESTERN CASPIAN REGION

Arid Ecosystems

UDC 581.527.2; 581.527.5

Safronova I.N., Stepanova N.Yu.,  Karimova T.Yu., Kalmykova O.G., Ulanova S.S., Fedorova N.L., Goryaev I.A., Polyektov S.A., Polyakov D.G. THE ACTUAL VEGETATION MAP FOR THE TERRITORY OF DISTRIBUTION OF SAIGA TATARICA TATARIC L. POPULATION IN THE NORTH-WESTERN CASPIAN REGION // Arid Ecosystems. 2023. Vol. 29. № 3 (96). P. 46-56. | PDF

The map of the current vegetation on the territory of the present and expected distribution of the saiga population in the North-Western Caspian region is presented. The map was created under an agreement with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) at a scale of 1:200,000 in the ArcGIS. Its legend contains 61 numbers, combined into 11 groups according to the dominant formation. In the steppe zone, fallows and pastures of different ages on slightly undulating and undulating plains with light-brown soils (Kastanozem by WRB) are represented by Stipa sareptana, Artemisia lerchiana communities on loamy and sandy loam soils in complex with Artemisia lerchiana and Leymus ramosus, Poa bulbosa, Agropyron desertorum on solonetz (I); Stipa sareptana, S. lessingiana, Festuca valesiaca, Agropyron desertorum, Poa bulbosa, Artemisia lerchiana, Tanacetum achilleifolium communities on loamy and sandy loam soils in complex with Artemisia lerchiana, A. pauciflora, Tanacetum achilleifolium on solonetz (II); Festuca valesiaca, Agropyron desertorum, Stipa sareptana, Leymus ramosus, Artemisia lerchiana communities on loamy and sandy loam saline soils in complex with Artemisia lerchiana, A. pauciflora, Tanacetum achilleifolium, Poa bulbosa, Leymus ramosus on solonetz (III); Poa bulbosa, Agropyron desertorum, Stipa sareptana, Leymus ramosus, Artemisia lerchiana, A. taurica, Tanacetum achilleifolium communities on loamy and sandy loam saline soils in complex with Artemisia taurica, A. lerchiana, A. pauciflora on solonetz (IV); Artemisia lerchiana, A. austriaca, Festuca valesiaca, Agropyron desertorum, Leymus ramosus and Festuca valesiaca, Poa bulbosa, Artemisia austriaca communities on loamy and sandy loam saline soils in complex  with Artemisia pauciflora, A. santonica on solonetz (V). In the desert zone, pastures on  hilly sands, undulating plains with brown desert (Calcisol by WRB) sandy and sandy loam soils are represented by Artemisia lerchiana, Poa bulbosa and Poa bulbosa, Artemisia lerchiana communities (VI); Artemisia lerchiana, Poa bulbosa communities on brown desert saline soils of light granulometric  composition in  complexes with Artemisia pauciflora, Poa bulbosa on solonetz (VII); complexes of Artemisia lerchiana, Poa bulbosa and Artemisia taurica, Poa bulbosa communities on brown desert saline soils of light granulometric composition (VIII); complexes of Poa bulbosa, Artemisia lerchiana and Poa bulbosa, Artemisia taurica communities on brown desert saline soils of light granulometric composition  (IX); Artemisia lerchiana, Poa bulbosa communities on undulating sands, Calligonum aphyllum on hilly sands (X); Poa bulbosa, Stipa sareptana, S. caspia, Agropyron fragile, Sporobolus cryptandrus, annual (Ceratocarpus arenarius, etc.) communities on intensive  pastures with brown desert sandy soils (XI).

Keywords: vegetation map, modern vegetation cover, steppe zone, desert zone, fallows, pastures, saiga antelopes.

Financing. The work was carried out under the research agreement No. 1/71 (30/04/2021) of the V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the World Wildlife Fund “Assessment of Saiga Habitats of the Northwestern Caspian Sea”; the grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research No. 15-05-06773 “Vegetation Cover of the Caspian Lowland in the System of Botanical and Geographical Zoning”; on the topic No. 121032500047-1 of the Laboratory of General Geobotany of the V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute “Vegetation of European Russia and Northern Asia: Diversity, Dynamics, Principles of Organization”; under the state task No. 122042700002-6 of the N.V. Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences; on the topic of the Institute of the Steppe of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences No. AAAAA21-121011190016-1; on the topic of the state task No. AAAAA18-118042490055-7 (0089-2021-0010) of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Fundamental Problems of Wildlife Conservation and Rational Use of Biological Resources”; on the topic of fundamental research plsnned for 2022-2024 of the Water Problems Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Research of Geoecological Processes in Hydrological Systems of Land, Formation of Surface and Groundwater Quality, Problems of Water Resources Management and Water Use in the Conditions of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Impacts” (No. FMWZ-2022-0002), State registration No. AAAA-A18-118022090104-8; on the topic of the state task of the Institute for Integrated Research of Arid Territories “Monitoring the Current State of Pasture Resources of the Republic of Kalmykia Using Geoinformation Systems”. It was also supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Central Research and Development Center “Herbarium of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (No. 075-15-2021-67).

DOI: 10.24412/1993-3916-2023-3-46-56

EDN: QSGELU

SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE IN AKMOLA REGION

Arid Ecosystems

Smagulov Ye.N. SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE IN AKMOLA REGION // Arid ecosystems. 2021. V.27. № 3 (88). P. 72-80.

Long-term dynamics of average air temperatures and annual precipitation amounts confirms the reality of climatic changes that began in the 70th of the last century in the Akmola region that is one of the leading agricultural regions of Kazakhstan. Cultivation of cereals, in particular, spring wheat, which is known to be extremely sensitive to climatic and weather conditions, prevails in the structure of agricultural production of the region. Based on the analysis of climatic indicators for 1931-2019, according to the available data of meteorological stations, the intraregional features of climate change, which led to an increase in the yield of grain crops, were identified. Correlation analysis established a high dependence of yield on the climatic conditions of the warm period. With the preservation of the current level of farming culture and the continued growth of average temperatures, a decrease in yield is expected in dry-steppe and southern steppe regions of the region. In the northern steppe regions, more intense trends in climatic indicators of the cold months favor an increase in yields and an expansion of agricultural production. Further development of agriculture in Akmola region requires taking into account intraregional differences in the intensity of climatic trends. In order to avoid the negative consequences of climate change, it is proposed to introduce adaptation technologies, to diversify agricultural production, to develop organic agriculture and actively to support agricultural producers.

Keywords: adaptation, agriculture, agroclimatic resources, cereals, climate change, dry steppe zone, long-term dynamics, Northern Kazakhstan, steppe zone, yield.

Funding. This work was carried out as part of the Research Project of the Geographical Faculty of Moscow State University.

DOI: 10.24411/1993-3916-2021-10166

TRANSVOLGA-TRANSURAL STEPPES OF THE NORTHERN SUBZONE OF THE STEPPE ZONE: SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE MODERN FORMATION DIVERSITY

Arid Ecosystems

Safronova I.N.,  Kalmykova O. G.,  Stepanova N. Yu. TRANSVOLGA-TRANSURAL STEPPES OF THE NORTHERN SUBZONE OF THE STEPPE ZONE: SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE MODERN FORMATION DIVERSITY // Arid ecosystems. 2020. V. 26. № 4 (85). P. 4-9. | PDF

The significant part of the native Transvolga-Transural steppes of the northern subzone of the Steppe zone is destroyed by plowing. And on large territory they are represented by fallow lands of different age. It is known that communities of many formations are spread throughout the steppe zone. The differences in the structure of undisturbed communities in different subzones are quite clear. On fallow lands and pastures these differences are poorly visible. Basing on many years of our research of the vegetation cover in the steppe zone we aimed in 2018–2019 to find out how much the diversity of formations on the fallow lands changes and how their structure can be used to appreciate the subzonal status of the territory. The research is based on field studies including a route method, more than 100 geobotanical descriptions made by standard method, the analysis of which uses ecological-phytocoenotic classification; more than 700 herbarium sheets were collected. We revealed that zonal Stipa zallesskii steppes do not currently dominate in the Transvolga-Transural part of the Northern subzone, but Stipa capillata steppes are dominant representing the background vegetation on the fallow lands. Along with Stipa capillata steppes large areas are occupied by secondary Stipa lessingiana steppes. As peculiar component of the vegetation cover of the Northern subzone we can mention the communities of dwarf semishrubs. They are confined to saline soils or to the outputs of the rocks. Halophytic and petrophytic variants of steppes are represented not only by semi-shrub communities, but also by perennial grasses.

Keywords: Transvolga, Pre-Ural, Transural, steppe zone, forb-feather-grass steppes, diversity.

DOI: 10.24411/1993-3916-2020-10112