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Variability of Soil Salinity and Phytodiversity in Areas of Different Ages of the Caspian Sea Plain

  • SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF ARID TERRITORIES
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Abstract

The article discusses the results of soil and geobotanical studies at the plots on the coastal plain of the Caspian Sea (Northern Dagestan) of different ages: 1340 ± 36 years calBP (Kaspii-1) and 293 ± 13 years calBP (Kaspii-2). Changes in the biodiversity of the vegetation cover and the soil-salinity variation over time are assessed. It is shown that the variability of soil salinity (range, quartile scale, and standard deviation) at the local level (areas of nonuniformity with linear dimensions of meters or tens of meters) has increased, while the parameters of vegetation biodiversity (floristic richness, the species number, the family number, the number of long-vegetating herbaceous perennials and ephemers, the presence of species with different salinity tolerance, and differentiation of the intracoenotic diversity) have decreased. The plot with a Tamarisk community (Kaspii-2) is characterized by a statistically significant, moderate correlation (R2 = 0.29) between soil salinity and vegetation based on data on the distribution of dominant species, whereas this correlation is not significant on the older plot with a saltwort-suaeda community (Kaspii-1). The data show that, when the area dries up after sea regression, the variation in soil properties (salinity) and vegetation changes in different directions: the variation in soil salinity (functional pedodiversity) increases with age, while the variation in vegetation (phytodiversity) decreases. Moisture availability is obviously the main factor limiting the biodiversity on the older plot on the background of high salinization of soils on the both plots as evidenced with the smaller moisture reserve in the top 1-m soil layer on the older plot.

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Notes

  1. Crynohalophytes (recretohalophytes) are salt-releasing halophytes, which free themselves from excessive harmful salts by their release as solution through specific glands on leaves.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to T.I. Chernov, I.N. Semenkov, M.P. Lebedeva, and D.D. Sangadzhiev for their assistance with the field studies.

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 17-17-01293, “Multilevel regional soil-geographical models as the basis for sustainable management of soil resources.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    M. V. Konyushkova

  2. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    Yu. D. Nukhimovskaya

  3. Caspian Institute of Biological Resources, Dagestan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 367025, Makhachkala, Russia

    Z. U. Gasanova

  4. Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden, Russian Academy of Sciences, 127276, Moscow, Russia

    N. Yu. Stepanova

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  1. M. V. Konyushkova
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  2. Yu. D. Nukhimovskaya
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  3. Z. U. Gasanova
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  4. N. Yu. Stepanova
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Correspondence to M. V. Konyushkova.

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Translated by I. Bel’chenko

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Konyushkova, M.V., Nukhimovskaya, Y.D., Gasanova, Z.U. et al. Variability of Soil Salinity and Phytodiversity in Areas of Different Ages of the Caspian Sea Plain. Arid Ecosyst 10, 312–321 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096120040125

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096120040125

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