Restoration of the Soil and Vegetation in Sandy Land with Different Stages of Deflation

The aim of this work is to reveal the features of fallow sandy lands with different stages of deflation. The virgin soil-vegetation cover was the reference point: plots with light and strong deflation were compared with it. The soil deflation stages were determined by the presence or absence of layers characteristic of the backgroundsoils of the territory. The restoration of vegetation depends on the activity of wind erosion, the properties of the soils and substrata emerging on the soil surface. Studies have shown that the soil properties of deflated plots contradict the background and classical schemes of fallow land recovery. Keywords: Trasbaikalia, Barguzin Depression, sandy lands, plant-soil cover, soil deflation, vegetation restoratio

Indicators of Pasture Digression in Steppe Ecosystems of Mongolia

The research shows that widely used key measures of vegetation structure (species diversity, projected cover and above-ground phytomass) are not always suitable as indicators of pasture degradation. Based on an analysis above-ground phytomass composition, new quantitative indices are offered that give a more realistic picture of rangeland condition in Mongolia

Climate and Grazing Effects on the Biomass and Photosynthetic Capacity of Dominant Species in Mongolia Steppe Communities

Global climate change and grazing are the key factors affecting plant productivity in steppe regions of Mongolia. It is important to separate the impacts of these factors and to assess the contribution of each factor to the biomass of pastoral plants. Here, we studied the grazing and climate impact on biomass and functional traits in three dominant species of Mongolian steppe plant communities: Artemisia frigida Willd., Stipa krylovii Roshev., and Kochia prostrata (L.) Schrad. Both aridity and grazing significantly influenced the biomass of the studied species but the direction and scope of the changes were species-specific. Grazing had no effect on leaf mass per area (LMA), photosynthesis (

Bush Encroachment of Forest-steppe Landscapes in the Mongolian Part of the Lake Baikal Basin

The character of competitive relationships between woody and shrub vegetation in the southern (Mongolian) part of the Lake Baikal basin was studied via model polygons. Depending on the environmental conditions, native forests are being replaced by different types of shrubs. The main factors contributing to these changesare the aridization of the climate and human activity. It is shown that the current state of shrub communities and their progressive dynamics along the southern border of boreal forests in Mongolia allow us to consider them stable cenoses, which prevent a natural renewal of coniferous (pine, larch) forests in this region. However, some shrub species may be considered indicators of ecotopes’ suitability for natural or artificial reforestation because their ecological requirements are similar to those of forest trees. Keywords: Lake Baikal basin, ecotone area, destruction of forests, bush encroachmen

Leaf traits of C3- and C4-plants indicating climatic adaptation along a latitudinal gradient in Southern Siberia and Mongolia

Increasing aridity is one of the most important trends of current climate change. Leaf functional traits suggest a substantial basis for assessing the aridity effects on vegetation. However, since plants possess diverse leaf morphology and anatomy due to different evolutionary history of taxa, the effect of aridity can hardly be revealed in a multi-species analysis. We studied leaf functional traits for 317 samples of 193 plant species in steppe and desert communities along a 1600-km latitudinal gradient in Southern Siberia (Transbaikalia, Russia) and Mongolia. We determined morphological leaf traits, quantitative anatomical parameters, physiological parameters, and photosynthetic pigments content. Different relevance of leaf traits for indication of plant response to climate has been demonstrated. The clearest changes in site-mean values along the aridity gradient were shown for leaf thickness, total chloroplast number per leaf area (Nchl/A) and total surface area of chloroplasts (Achl/A) and cells (Ames/A) per leaf area. Unlike leaf size and leaf mass per area, these quantitative mesophyll parameters related to plant photosynthetic capacity were strongly correlated with climate. We found no evidence for a decrease in sizes of mesophyll cells with aridity, but cell volume as well as chloroplast number per cell were linked with plant functional type (PFT). We revealed an increase in Nchl/A and Achl/A in desert-steppe species in comparison to steppe and forest-steppe vegetation types within each PFT of C3-plants (C3-dicot herbs, C3-dicot shrubs, C3-monocots and C3-succulents). C4-plants were generally characterized by low Achl/A and Ames/A, but had higher rate of CO2-transfer through mesophyll and chloroplast surfaces. C3- and C4-plants differed in response to aridity and showed opposite trends in changes of leaf traits along the aridity gradient. We conclude that leaf mesophyll traits contribute to important mechanism of climatic adaptation in different PFTs along a large latitudinal gradient. © 2018 Elsevier GmbHRussian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR: АААА-А17-117072810011-1, 17-29-05019, АААА-А17-117011810036-3The authors are deeply indebted Joint Russian-Mongolian Complex Biological Expedition RAS and MAS, who supported the field observation and data collection used in this study. The analytical part of this research has been partially supported by RFBR grant 17-29-05019 , and partly by project №АААА-А17-117072810011-1 of Russian Federal Budget . The research of O.A. Anenkhonov was carried out using the framework of project № АААА-А17-117011810036-3 supported by the Russian Federal Budget

Indicators of Pasture Digression in Steppe Ecosystems of Mongolia

The research shows that widely used key measures of vegetation structure (species diversity, projected cover and above-ground phytomass) are not always suitable as indicators of pasture degradation. Based on an analysis above-ground phytomass composition, new quantitative indices are offered that give a more realistic picture of rangeland condition in Mongolia

The Influence Of Vegetation On Reflected Solar Radiation In Arid And Extra-Arid Zone Of Mongolian Gobi

Vegetation cover has a noticeable effect on surface reflectivity and local microclimate in arid areas of Mongolian Gobi. Over the past decades, various shrub species (Haloxylon ammodendron and Calligonum mongolicum) have appeared on the previously unvegetated hamada. The climatic consequences of bush encroachment are still poorly understood. Using the experimental data, this article estimates the reflectance of plants dominating in Mongolia’s dry steppe, desert-steppe, and desert ecosystems. The average values of the total reflection coefficient at visible and infrared wavelengths range from 19.7% ± 1.4% to 20.1% ± 1.7% in plants growing in desert-steppe ecosystems, and from 25.0% ± 0.9% to 24.8% ± 1.5% on the bare surface. The difference between the reflectance of vegetated and unvegetated surfaces reaches 5%. Therefore, in daylight hours, the vegetated day surface loses less solar energy than the non-vegetated surface does. This phenomenon may be defined as a quasi- or secondary greenhouse effect – in daylight hours, solar energy is retained on the surface by vegetation and this contributes to the temperature increase. Such an impulse, which seems to be insignificantly small at first glance, triggers a series of climatic variations leading to a change in the structure of the radiation and heat balance as well as the climate not only in the desert-steppe and desert ecosystems but also in Central Asia as a whole. All this may explain the 1.2-2.3°C increase in air temperatures in the Gobi observed over the last 25 years

Restoration of the Soil and Vegetation in Sandy Land with Different Stages of Deflation

The aim of this work is to reveal the features of fallow sandy lands with different stages of deflation. The virgin soil-vegetation cover was the reference point: plots with light and strong deflation were compared with it. The soil deflation stages were determined by the presence or absence of layers characteristic of the backgroundsoils of the territory. The restoration of vegetation depends on the activity of wind erosion, the properties of the soils and substrata emerging on the soil surface. Studies have shown that the soil properties of deflated plots contradict the background and classical schemes of fallow land recovery. Keywords: Trasbaikalia, Barguzin Depression, sandy lands, plant-soil cover, soil deflation, vegetation restoratio

Soil Pollution with Heavy Metals in the Industrial Cities of Mongolia

The technogenic anomalies in heavy metal patterns in the soils of Ulaanbaatar, Darkhan, and Erdenet cities are characterized both qualitatively and quantitatively. These data permitted to evaluate the background geochemical situation in the study area, and the technogenic specialization of the cities. The geochemical properties of urban soils were shown to display a spatial variability associated with certain functional zones. The ecological status of polluted urban soils was assessed basing on regulatory heavy metal values accepted in Mongolia