Archive

Current issues:

Online version of the journal

Select viewing options

Dynamics of vegetation of the phytomeliorated deflation zone on the territory of the Republic of Kalmykia

L.P. Rybashlykova

Section: Remediation and rehabilitation

The state-of-the-art of the vegetation cover and plant communities composition of the restored phytomeliorated deflation zone has been studied. Forest reclamation arrangement of the “Green zone – Komsomol’skij village” deflation zone was carried out in 1998 in a destructive-accumulative zone by continuous planting of Calligonum aphyllum without preliminary soil preparation. Tree-planting machine MLB-1 was used for these purposes. Forb-cereal and white wormwood-cereal communities with a projective cover of 65% is currently dominated in the vegetation cover of the lower grassy tier (age is 20–23 years). The species composition has stabilized to 10–15 years. About 30 species have been included in the species composition. The formation and stabilization of phytocenosis occurs under the protection of Calligonum aphyllum planting for 18–20-years period of succession. Conditions for the introduction of species, the growth of which required a certain level of soil fertility, as well as more comfortable microclimate than on degraded soils and open sands, have been created in the same period. There are changes in the ecobiomorphic composition of phytocenosis, a decrease in the share of annual species, an increase in the number of forbs with an increasing in the duration of successions. It was found that progressive successions of the site vegetation cover inhibit by overgrazing and pyrogenic factor. Under the influence of overgrazing in the species composition in a competitive environment, species are replaced by other species in approximately equal relation. There is a decrease in the feed value of phytocenoses with the development of monocultures (low-value plant species) The obtained data on the flora, abundance, and structure of vegetation cover demonstrate the current state in the "exhausted" centers of deflation in the pastures of the Republic of Kalmykia.

Keywords: arid zone, land degradation, phytomelioration, succession, plant community

Link

Article published in number 2 for 2022
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2022-2-152-158