Meadow vegetation of the Zhetysu Alatau mountains

The Zhetysu (Junggar) Alatau mountain system consists of mainly two parallel, high mountain ranges: the northern and the southern. The natural border between the ranges is the Koksu river and the Boro Tala river (located in China). Climate conditions, water resources, soil cover, altitudinal zonality of plant cover vary in the northern and the southern ranges (macro slopes). The aim of the research was to give phytocoenotic characteristic of meadow vegetation, to determine the ecological-physiognomic types of meadows, to identify the species composition of natural communities and indicators of anthropogenic influence. Meadow vegetation inhabits a wide altitudinal range from piedmont deserts and low-hill terrains to subalpine and alpine belts, with a high degree of species and phytocoenotic diversity. According to ecological-physiognomic classification, 6 vegetation types of meadows are found in the Zhetysu Alatau Mountains: halophytic on meadow–serozem saline soils, flood-plain-valley (forb-grass typical, grass-forb on floodplain meadow and meadow-chernozem soils; swamp meadows on paludal-meadow soils), steppe on meadow-chernozem and meadow-kastanozem soils, mid-mountain rich grass-forb on ordinary and leached chernozems, high-mountain subalpine on mountain-meadow subalpine turf soils, high-mountain alpine on mountain-meadow alpine turf soils. The meadows of the northern range are most diverse, those of the southern, more arid one, are fragmentary. Meadow vegetation is mostly used for grazing and haying, sometimes for tillage. Oftentimes, river valleys are significantly impacted by recreation. The degree of human-induced degradation is assessed as moderate, with sites of severe degradation of vegetation cover. Within the limits of the “Zhongar Alatau” and “Altyn Emel” National Parks remain natural samples of the Zhetysu Alatau meadow vegetation.