The Distribution Characteristics of Vegetation in the Subrange of the Altai Mountains, Xinjiang

Qiumei Cao; Yan Wei; Wenjun Li; Ying Feng; Ozodbek S Abduraimov

doi:10.3390/plants12223915

The Distribution Characteristics of Vegetation in the Subrange of the Altai Mountains, Xinjiang

Plants (Basel). 2023 Nov 20;12(22):3915. doi: 10.3390/plants12223915.

Authors

Qiumei Cao^{1

2

3}, Yan Wei¹, Wenjun Li^{2

3}, Ying Feng^{2

3}, Ozodbek S Abduraimov⁴

Affiliations

¹ Grassland College, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830011, China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Urumqi 830011, China.
³ The Specimen Museum of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
⁴ Institute of Botany, Academy Science Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent 100126, Uzbekistan.

Abstract

The Altai Mountains are an important center of biodiversity and are a major habitat for threatened and endemic species in Asia. Moreover, the Altai Mountains are a valuable site for the study of the evolution of central Asian vegetation. The Xinjiang Altai subrange represents the largest part of the southern Altai Mountains and has many unique plant communities. After conducting a thorough literature review and field investigation, we utilized the Chinese vegetation categorization system to identify the dominant plant communities in the Xinjiang Altai subrange and report their composition and distribution characteristics. Our results show that (1) the natural plant communities present in the Xinjiang Altai subrange can be divided into eight vegetation types, eighteen vegetation subtypes, and 50 communities. Among these, two communities-Form. Calligonum rubicundum and Form. Seriphidium borotalense-Festuca valesiaca-are present only in the Xinjiang Altai subrange. (2) The Xinjiang Altai subrange is located at the junction of three major biomes containing unique vegetation types (coniferous forest, temperate broadleaf forest, and desert). Thus, the Xinjiang Altai subrange is distinct in its staggered transition from mountainous boreal taiga to temperate desert. This research provides textual data to contextualize the cultural heritage of the Xinjiang Altai subrange and also provides a scientific basis for the protection and sustainable management of natural resources found in the Xinjiang Altai.

Keywords: Xinjiang Altai subrange; composition and distribution characteristics; vegetation type.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the project Investigation of Exotic Species in the Erqi River Basin during the Third Xinjiang Scientific Expedition (2021xjkk0606), and Third Xinjiang Scientific Expedition “Construction of biological resources collection and conservation platform in arid area” (2022xjkk1505), and the Third Xinjiang Scientific Expedition “Investigation on Resources and Environment of Mount Taishan Cross border Protected Area” (2022xjkk0801).