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What steppe asia is occupied with. Natural steppe zone: characteristics, description, geographical location and features of the steppe zone, nature, climate and soil, map

Great steppe

Steppe steppe, Great steppe Eurasian steppe(also eurasian steppes Eurasia.

Great Steppe as a geographical concept

Steppe steppe, Great steppe Eurasian steppe(also eurasian steppes) is a generalized name for a natural region occupying the central part of the continent of Eurasia. The prevailing landscape is steppe and forest-steppe, in places desert and semi-desert. It stretches from west to east, reaching a width of about 1,000 km, a length of over 6,000. From north to south it is crossed by deep rivers - the Dnieper, Don, Volga, Ural and others. Since ancient, prehistoric times, the inhabitants of these lands have been people of different races, peoples, languages, faiths, cultures and types of occupation, the mixing of which has created and in our time determines the unique cultural characteristics of this region. Since ancient times, vast areas of the Eurasian steppes have been inhabited by both nomadic and agricultural peoples. Even in Herodotus we find a mention of nomadic steppe and steppe farmer. On the lands of the Great Steppe, we see various peoples of Slavic, Turkic, Mongolian, Iranian and Finno-Ugric origin. A nomadic way of life predominated in these territories until the 19th century, after which a sedentary and semi-nomadic way of life begins to play an important role in the region, on the basis of which a unique urban culture, different from the European one, is formed. The importance of in the establishment of a settled way of life in the steppes, the territorial expansion of Russia played, mainly by the resettlement method of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Conventionally, the Eurasian steppe is divided into several subregions - the Pontic-Caspian steppe, Wild Field, Russian Plain, Barabinskaya steppe, Kazakh steppe and Kalmyk steppes, various hollows, lowlands. The Carpathians separate the Eurasian plain from the middle Danube plain, where in the 10th century the Hungarians who roamed the Eurasian steppe settled. In the south and southeast, the steppes are washed by the Black, Azov and Caspian seas.

Great Steppe as a historical, cultural and economic region

The name Great Steppe can also designate the entire vast region that was part of the Mongol Empire, in which the Eurasian steppes played a system-forming role, although they made up only part of its lands. If you study the history of the region from ancient times to the present day (including the period of the USSR), it will be noticeable that this region in our time is a single whole, with a unique centuries-old culture and worldview. Other names include Steppe, Scythia, Tartaria.

Despite the change by the peoples of the region throughout their history of their kind of occupation, faith, language, name, etc., the history of many cultural and ideological characteristics of local residents can be traced back to ancient times. Similar steppe traditions, mentality and cultural characteristics can be found among Kazakhs, Tatars, Mongols, Chinese and Eastern Slavs(Russians, Ukrainians), especially the Cossacks. This allows us to consider this region as a single whole on a par with regions such as Europe, Latin America, etc., uniting countries and cultures under the common name Steppe, and the inhabitants of the region common name- steppe people.

Geographical position

Located in the eastern part of the continent of Eurasia, in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it borders with Europe along the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, with Africa along Suez Canal, with America along the Bering Strait. It is washed by the waters of the Pacific, Arctic and Indian oceans, inland seas belonging to the Atlantic Ocean basin. The coastline is poorly indented, there are such large peninsulas: Hindustan, Arabian, Kamchatka, Chukotka, Taimyr.

Main geographic characteristics

3/4 of the Asian territory is occupied by mountains and plateaus (Himalayas, Pamir, Tien Shan, Greater Caucasus, Altai, Sayan Mountains), the rest is occupied by plains (West Siberian, North Siberian, Kolyma, Great China, etc.). On the territory of Kamchatka, the islands of East Asia and the Malaysian coast, there are a large number of active, active volcanoes. Highest point Asia and the world - Chomolungma in the Himalayas (8848 m), the lowest - 400 meters below sea level (Dead Sea).

Asia can be safely called a part of the world where great waters flow. The basin of the Arctic Ocean includes the Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Irtysh, Lena, Indigirka, Kolyma, the Pacific Ocean - Anadyr, Amur, Huangkhe, Yanz, Mekong, Indian Ocean - Brahmaputra, Ganges and Indus, the inner basin of the Caspian, Aral seas and lakes Balkhash - Amu Darya, Syrdarya, Kura. The largest seas-lakes are the Caspian and Aral, tectonic lakes - Baikal, Issyk-Kul, Van, Rezaye, Teletskoye lake, salty ones - Balkhash, Kukunor, Tuz.

The territory of Asia lies in almost all climatic zones, the northern regions are the Arctic zone, the southern ones are equatorial, the main part is under the influence of the sharply continental climate, which is characterized by cold winters with low temperatures and hot, dry summers. Precipitation mainly falls in the summer season, only in the Middle and Near East - in winter.

The distribution of natural zones is characterized by latitudinal zoning: northern regions- tundra, then taiga, zone mixed forests and forest-steppe, a zone of steppes with a fertile layer of chernozem, a zone of deserts and semi-deserts (Gobi, Taklamakan, Karakum, Arabian Peninsula deserts), which are separated by the Himalayas from the southern tropical and subtropical zones, Southeast Asia lies in the zone of equatorial moist forests.

Asian countries

There are 48 sovereign states located on the territory of Asia, 3 officially unrecognized republics (Waziristan, Nagorno-Karabakh, the Shan State,) 6 dependent territories(in the Indian and Pacific Oceans) - only 55 countries. Some countries are partially located in Asia (Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Yemen, Egypt and Indonesia). The largest states in Asia are Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, the smallest are the Comoros, Singapore, Bahrain, and the Maldives.

Depending on the geographical location, cultural and regional characteristics, it is customary to divide Asia into East, West, Central, South and Southeast.

List of countries in Asia

Major countries of Asia:

(with a detailed description)

Nature

Nature, plants and animals of Asia

The variety of natural zones and climatic zones determines the diversity and uniqueness of both the flora and fauna of Asia, a huge number of the most diverse landscapes allows the most diverse representatives of the plant and animal kingdom to live here ...

For North Asia located in the zone arctic desert and tundra, characterized by poor vegetation: mosses, lichens, dwarf birches. Further, the tundra is replaced by taiga, where huge pines, spruces, larch, fir, Siberian cedars grow. The taiga in the Amur region is followed by a zone of mixed forests (Korean cedar, white fir, Olginskaya larch, Sayan spruce, Mongolian oak, Manchurian walnut, green-barked and bearded maple), to which deciduous forests (maple, linden, elm, ash, Walnut), in the south, passing into the steppes with fertile chernozems.

In Central Asia, the steppes, where feather grass, vostrets, tokonog, wormwood, and forbs grow, give way to semi-deserts and deserts, the vegetation here is poor and represented by various salt lovers and sand lovers: wormwood, saxauls, tamarisk, juzgun, ephedra. The subtropical zone in the west of the Mediterranean climate zone is characterized by the growth of evergreen rigid-leaved forests and shrubs (maquis, pistachios, olives, juniper, myrtle, cypress, oak, maple), for the Pacific coast - monsoon mixed forests (camphor laurel, podocarte, camellia, cunningamia, evergreen oak species, camphor laurel, Japanese pine, cypresses, cryptomeria, thuja, bamboo, gardenia, magnolia, azalea). A large number of palms (about 300 species), tree ferns, bamboo, and pandanus grow in the equatorial forest zone. The vegetation of mountainous regions, in addition to the laws of latitudinal zonality, obeys the principles of altitudinal zonation. Coniferous and mixed forests grow at the foot of the mountains, and lush alpine meadows grow on the tops.

The fauna of Asia is rich and varied. The territory of Western Asia has favorable living conditions for antelopes, roe deer, goats, foxes, as well as a huge number of rodents, the inhabitants of the lowlands - wild boars, pheasants, geese, tigers and leopards. In the northern regions, located mainly on the territory of Russia, in North-East Siberia and the tundra, inhabited by wolves, moose, bears, gophers, polar foxes, deer, lynxes, wolverines. In the taiga live ermine, arctic fox, squirrels, chipmunks, sable, ram, hare. The arid regions of Central Asia are inhabited by gophers, snakes, jerboas, predator birds, in South Asia - elephants, buffaloes, wild boars, lemurs, lizards, wolves, leopards, snakes, peacocks, flamingos, in East Asia - moose, bears, Ussuri tigers and wolves, ibises, mandarin ducks, owls, antelopes, mountain rams, giant salamanders living on the islands, a variety of snakes and frogs, a large number of birds.

Climatic conditions

Seasons, weather and climate of Asian countries

The peculiarities of climatic conditions in Asia are formed under the influence of such factors as the large extent of the Eurasia continent both from north to south and west to east, a large number of mountain barriers and low-lying depressions that affect the amount of solar radiation and atmospheric air circulation ...

Most of Asia is located in the sharply continental climatic zone, the eastern part is under the influence of the marine atmospheric masses of the Pacific Ocean, the north is subject to the invasion of the arctic air masses, in the south, tropical and equatorial air masses, their penetration into the interior of the mainland is hindered by mountain ranges stretching from west to east. Precipitation is unevenly distributed: from 22,900 mm per year in the Indian town of Cherrapunji in 1861 (considered the wettest place on our planet), to 200-100 mm per year in the desert regions of Central and Central Asia.

Peoples of Asia: culture and traditions

In terms of population, Asia ranks first in the world, it is home to 4.2 billion people, which is 60.5% of all humanity on the planet, and three times after Africa in terms of population growth. In Asian countries, the population is represented by representatives of all three races: Mongoloid, Caucasian and Negroid, the ethnic composition is variegated and diverse, several thousand peoples live here, speaking more than five hundred languages ...

Among the language groups, the most common:

Sino-Tibetan... It is represented by the largest ethnic group in the world - Han (Chinese, the population of China is 1.4 billion people, every fifth person in the world is Chinese);
Indo-European... Settled on the territory of the Indian subcontinent, they are Hindus, Bihars, Marathi (India), Bengalis (India and Bangladesh), Punjabis (Pakistan);
Austronesian... They live in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, the Philippines) - Javanese, Bisaya, Sunda;
Dravidian... These are the Telugu, Kannara and Malayali peoples ( South india, Sri Lanka, parts of Pakistan);
Austroasian... The largest representatives are Vieta, Lao, Siamese (Indochina, South China):
Altai... Turkic peoples, divided into two isolated groups: in the west - Turks, Iranian Azerbaijanis, Afghani Uzbeks, in the east - the peoples of Western China (Uighurs). The Manchus and Mongols of Northern China and Mongolia also belong to this language group;
Semitic-Hamitic... These are the Arabs of the western part of the continent (west of Iran and south of Turkey) and Jews (Israel).

Also, peoples such as the Japanese and Koreans stand out in a separate group called isolates, this is the name of the populations of people who, for various reasons, including geographic location, found themselves isolated from the outside world.

What picture, what landscape can a generalized image of Asia represent? A continent stretching from the lifeless icy deserts of the Arctic to scorching sands and sweltering rainforests? There are, perhaps, no such landscapes. Asia is too diverse. But there is a miracle of nature on this continent, which is proud not only of the country that possesses it, but also of all mankind. Of course, this is Baikal.

Let's open the photo album of O. Gusev, who in 4 years walked and traveled around the entire coast of the legendary lake. It is called “Around Baikal”. Each number from the text on one of the first pages of the book is striking. The length of the lake is 636 km; width: maximum - 81 km, minimum - 27 km; the length of the coastline is about 2000 km; depth: maximum - 1620 m, average - 731 m; area - 31,500 km 2; the volume of the water mass is 23,000 km 3. Maximum transparency - 40 m.

More than 540 tributaries receive Baikal from the catchment area, Approaching 590,000 km 2, and only one river flows out of it - the mighty and full-flowing Angara.

The most transparent water, spreading like a silvery smooth surface in calm weather. Steep and very dangerous waves for boats, noisily rushing to the shore, driven by the famous Baikal winds - Sarma, Kultuk, Barguzin, etc. Majestic cliffs of coastal sleeps and islands, descending steeply into the lake. Cedar forests along the ridges surrounding Lake Baikal. Larch forests, sparkling with gold after the first frost and forming - together with the blueness of the lake and the blue of the sky - an unforgettable range of colors. The fabulous beauty of Lake Baikal - the whole and its individual capes, bays, bays, islands.

The richest life: 1340 species of animals and 556 species of plants, many of which are found only on Lake Baikal.

... The relief of Asia is very diverse, in general, it is characterized by the predominance of elevations over lowlands: the latter account for only 25% of the area, and on elevations from 200 to 2000 meters - 61%; almost 14% of the territory of Asia is located above 2000 meters above sea level. The highest plateau in the world - Tibet (its central parts have an average height of about 4.5 thousand meters above sea level) - is "balanced" in Asia by the largest West Siberian lowland. Here is the largest closed sea on the planet - the Caspian, and the deepest freshwater lake - Baikal, and the huge Gobi desert. More than 5 thousand km are the length of the river - Ob (with the Irtysh), Yangtze, Yenisei; the rare rivers of the planet can be compared with the Amur in high water.

The climate of Asia, in general, has a continental character, but its diversity due to the length of the continent from the Arctic to equatorial latitudes extremely large. The climatic mosaic is aggravated by the presence of high uplands, closed depressions, long mountain ranges. It was in Asia, before acquaintance with the nature of Antarctica, that climatologists placed the "cold pole" of the planet. But the Verkhoyansk depression, of course, remains the center of the cold Asian continent. At the same time, in the south of Asia in summer there is a kingdom of high temperatures: drying out waterless in Central Asia, the Middle East, Inner Mongolia and combined with extremely high, exhausting humidity in the tropics and subtropics of India, Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines.

The wettest in summer period are the eastern and southeastern coastal regions influenced by constant monsoons. At the foot and on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, the amount of precipitation reaches 12 meters per year! At the same time, the central depressions and highlands of Central and Western Asia receive very little rainfall and have an arid climate. In general, about 26% of Asia's surface belongs to a humid climate with cold winters, almost 10% to a steppe climate, more than 10% to a semi-desert climate, and about 13.5% to an area with cold dry winters. One fourth of the continent has hot climate, half is cold.

Diversity, diversity of physical and geographical conditions predetermine the same great diversity of vegetation. Far North Asian busy harsh arctic tundra or icy deserts; to the south are the tundra and forest-tundra zones. In the south of Asia there are humid subtropical and tropical forests, swampy jungles. A huge strip of taiga passes through Asia, dark coniferous and light, larch. There are also various steppes, which flourish in spring with a variety of bright ephemerals, and deserts, stony and sandy, in which vegetation is poorly developed or almost absent.

Peculiar flora of the Central Asian deserts; some species of background plants found in these deserts (saxauls, sandy acacia, etc.) are endemic to Eurasia and absent in the Sahara. The Ussuri taiga is remarkable for its floristic composition and appearance, in which we meet many southern, exotic species of trees and shrubs.

Where the ecological conditions are diverse, where there are many different plant formations, where the primary productivity of biocenoses is high, the animal world is naturally also diverse.

Zoogeographers attribute the territory of Asia to two areas that are very different from one another - the Holarctic and Indo-Malay. Within the Holarctic region, the Palaearctic and Neoarctic are distinguished, and the first includes a significant part of the Euro-Asian continent. Although the fauna of the Holarctic is poor, its territory is occupied by faunistic complexes that are complexly combined with each other, have a different origin and are associated with different landscapes. Just as in the European part of the Palaearctic, which we talked about above, the following main faunas are distinguished in the Asian part: tundra and taiga. In addition, there are fauna of the Far Eastern broadleaf forest, Mediterranean steppes, Mongolian steppes, Tibetan high-mountainous steppe, fauna of the mountains of Inner Asia. The faunas of the European and Asian tundra are similar. The pine marten in the pre-Ural and trans-Ural parts of the taiga is replaced by sable. In the Far East, we will already meet several species of mammals and birds that are absent in Europe: the raccoon dog (acclimatized in Europe in the 30s), the black (Himalayan) bear, Amur tiger, harzu, Siberian grouse, mandarin duck, etc.

The fauna of the Mediterranean deserts is characterized by several species of gerbils, the common gazelle, whose range extends eastward to the Tigris River, desert lynx-caracal, dune cat, beauty bustard, white-bellied sandgrouse. Typical animal species for the Mongolian steppe are gazelle, tarbagan marmot, several species of jerboa-shaped, Mongolian lark. Kulan, Korsak, eared hedgehog, Pallas' cat, saja, or an attempt, are found not only in the steppes, but also in the semi-deserts of Central Asia. In the Kazakh steppes and semi-deserts, there is a restored saiga population, numbering about a million individuals (it also enters Uzbekistan). The North American rodent introduced here, the muskrat, has widely settled in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. In tugai and on their outskirts, there are some subspecies of pheasant, the Central Asian deer - Hangul.

The fauna of vast Tibet (to which the Eastern Pamir gravitates) is transitional from plain to mountainous. Its typical representatives are the orango and hell antelopes, the yak, the kulan, the large Tibetan marmot, and the Tibetan saja ,.

The characteristic animals of the fauna of the mountains of Inner Asia are the yak, Siberian and horned goats, kuku-yaman (“half-sheep”), rams, argali and argali, tar (“half-goat”), goral, Tibetan, dark-bellied and Altai ulars, keklik; in the ranges of Eastern Siberia, we meet other typical animals - bighorn sheep, black-capped marmot, long-tailed ground squirrel.

Fauna of the Indo-Malay region embracing India, Sri Lanka. The Indo-Chinese Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago to the east up to the islands of Bali, Sulawesi and the Philippines, inclusive, are much more diverse and richer. Its main features:

There are only two endemic orders of mammals: woolly wings and tarsiers. The large Tupai family and the gibbon family are endemic. Deer, squirrels, flying squirrels, pheasants are very numerous.
Only a very few of the most widespread groups on earth are missing.
There are great similarities with the fauna of Ethiopia (elephants, rhinos, narrow-nosed monkeys, lizards, deer, semi-monkeys, hornbills, etc.).
A sharp contrast to the Australian fauna (despite the presence of some common elements).
Tapirs and raccoons (pandas) are common with these species in the Neotropical Region.

Of the whole variety of species of mammals and birds of the Indo-Malay region, we will briefly dwell on only a few that are (or were) of hunting interest.

The Indian elephant is somewhat inferior in size to the African one, but still belongs to very large animals; its weight sometimes exceeds 5 tons. Poaching and deforestation have greatly reduced the number of Indian elephants. Currently, they are preserved mainly in Burma, on the island of Sri Lanka, in some regions of India, etc .; their number does not exceed 50 thousand heads.

The bearded pig, close to the European boar, is quite common; she is considered the ancestor of the domestic pig.

There are many Asian deer, the smallest of them weighs only about 2.5 kg. Of small species forest deer the muntjac is known, the weight of which is up to 25 kg. Indian sambar has more large sizes, is found in humid lowland and dry or mountain forests, but its numbers are small. Some species of deer living in rain forests are very rare. Many species of bulls are also rare or few in number - gaur, banteng, cuprey and wild Assamese buffalo.

In the dry tropical forests, woodlands and savannas of Asia, several species of antelope live, which are far from being as numerous as in similar landscapes in Africa. In light forests and shrub associations, the Nilgau antelope is found, whose weight reaches 200 kg. In the Indian woodlands and savannas, a small and rare antelope-garna lives, the four-horned antelope is quite common.

Among the hunting birds of the Indo-Malay region, we are interested in turachi, or francolins, inhabiting the forests and shrubs of the Indian subcontinent, several species of shrub chickens, including the bank chicken, various pheasants, widely represented in the fauna of this region. Various wetland birds are also numerous here, some of which come to winter from more northern regions.

Talking about the fauna of Asia, one cannot fail to highlight the fauna of China - huge and peculiar in natural attitude country. First of all, it should be noted that China is distinguished by a variety of fauna. This is due to the fact that on the territory of the country the moderately subtropical complex of animals of the Holarctic zoogeographic region is in contact with the tropical complex of the Indo-Malay region, and the border between them is not sufficiently defined.

Approximately 386 species of mammals (9.8% of the world's mammalian fauna) and 1,090 species of birds (12.6%) live in China.

Mammals belong to 48 families in 11 orders. The order of predators is remarkable in its composition. First of all, it comes to mind giant panda, which is also often called the bamboo bear, is endemic to the mountains of western Sichuan. This, of course, is not a hunting species, it must be carefully protected, and care must be taken to restore its numbers. But the red panda, a representative of Asian raccoons, is common in many parts of the country.

The canine fauna is rather poor: it is a wolf, a raccoon dog, a corsac fox, a red wolf, well-known species, as well as an endemic to Tibet of Qinghai and Ganu - the Tibetan fox.

The mussels are the richest in the mammalian fauna of China. Among them we will find martens, common for most of Europe, the Siberian weasel, weasel, otter, badger, as well as exotic animals - tropical badgers, dwarf otters, etc. In the south of the country, real martens are gradually inferior in number and diversity to the civet family characteristic of the tropics: civet, palm marten, masked civet, mongoose or ichneumon.

The feline fauna is also quite diverse: lynx and Snow Leopard neighboring in China with Indian and clouded leopards, tiger, small forest and desert cats.

There are about 150 species of rodents in China, but only a few are of hunting, commercial interest: marmots, the number of which is large in the mountain steppes, real and red squirrels, some ground squirrels, bristle-tailed porcupines.

Listing the ungulates of China, Professor L.G. Bannikov, first of all, mentions such wonderful and rare animals as the Przewalski's horse and the wild camel. However, there is very little certainty that they have survived in nature to the present day.

Deer presented significant number species, among them - water deer inhabiting the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, South Chinese deer - milu and Indian sambar. There are also sika deer, red deer and white-bearded deer,. Desert-steppe and mountain antelopes are represented by such species as gazelle, gazelle, saiga, ada, goral, goat antelopes, bull-like antelope - takin. The mountains are inhabited by mountain sheep and goats, as well as kukuyaman and wild yak of the Tibetan plateau. The wild bull - gaur - is found in the mountain forests of the southwestern part of the country. The wild boar is fairly common in many areas.

Obviously, the ungulate fauna of China, with a careful attitude to it, can provide a condition for various and peculiar types of hunting, including unique ones.

The birds of China belong to 82 families, which are part of 27 orders. Of greatest interest to hunters are lamellar bills, chickens and, to a lesser extent, waders. In the eastern regions of the country, many birds winter, whose nesting stations are located in Siberia: geese, bean goose, most of the real geese, teal, broad-bean, most diving, merganser, from sandpipers - tules, lapwings, turukhtan, curlews, etc. Excessive hunting for waterfowl, practiced in China for a number of years, including the use of military weapons, negatively affected the state of their resources; several species of geese were particularly affected.

The order of chickens is interesting in that 47 species of pheasant birds are found in China, while there are 165 species of them in the world fauna. No other country is so rich in pheasants: there are real pheasants, royal, golden, silver, eared ... Monals live in the mountains, perhaps the most beautiful of all known birds, variegated sermoons, several types of mountain satyrs, or trapogons, partridges, chukots, turachi, woody and bamboo "partridges", alpine snowcocks, peculiar mountain chickens of the Himalayas, Tibet and Sichuan mountains.

Among hunting species In China, there are also stone capercaillie, black grouse, ptarmigan, two species of real hazel grouses, Siberian grouse, real pigeons and doves found in the north of the country, hooves or saja, colored bustards, etc.

The fauna of Asia has suffered significant losses over the past centuries. Among those who suffered from excessive hunting and poaching and sharply reduced their number of animals, J. Dorst mentions the following species: Indian and Javanese one-horned rhinoceros, Sumatran two-horned rhinoceros, Indian cheetah, Indian lion, Japanese red-footed ibis, great Indian bustard, etc.

In recent years, thanks to measures taken by various countries, it has been possible to halt the decline or increase the population of some wild animals, for example, the Indian lion, introduced in a special reserve. Unfortunately, the condition of other species has worsened or continues to be of concern. About 70 species and subspecies of birds and mammals are listed in the "Red Book" of the hunting animals living in the Asian part of the country.

The main reason for the continuing decline in the number of some species of wild animals in foreign Asia (in addition to poaching) is the transformation of their habitats, and especially the deforestation. As you know, Asia is quite rich in forests, they occupy 500 million hectares, or 13% of the territory. However, the use of forests in most cases is irrational. Logging and agricultural expansion reduce the forest area of South Asia and Oceania by 5 million hectares annually; more than 1 million hectares annually degrade due to fires, uncontrolled felling grazing livestock. In 30% of forests South-East Asia still have not abandoned slash-and-burn agriculture, as a result of which 2 million hectares of forest land have been destroyed in the Philippines, and erosion processes are developing on 9 million hectares. In Thailand for 1952-1978. the forest cover of the territory decreased from 58.3 to 33%. A similar picture is observed in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Korea, China. All this causes serious damage to the fauna of Asia.

associated mainly with chernozems and chestnut soils and an arid climate, with a maximum precipitation in the summer months. Occupy Nai large areas in the inland parts of the Northern Hemisphere within the temperate zone, where the steppe zones stretch from west to east in Europe and Asia and from Steppe in the south in North America. Steppe also available in South America. They are plowed over a large area (for example, in Europe they were preserved mainly in reserves).

In the USSR virgin lands Steppe are available in sowing. parts of the Kazakh Upland and in southern Transbaikalia. Large steppe islands surrounded by mountain taiga are Steppe Minusinsk and Tuva basins; small areas, mainly on the southern slopes, Steppe go far on Steppe-V. Siberia. Significant areas Steppe occupy also in the mountains of Transcaucasia, Front, Central and Central Asia, where they rise to the highlands.

In natural vegetation Steppe in Europe and Asia (including in the USSR) turf grains predominate: feather grass, fescue, fine-footed sheep, bluegrass, and others, and turf species of sedges and onions. In North America, in addition to the turf grass species endemic to this continent, in less arid Steppe of turf grasses, various species of bearded vulture are widespread, and in more arid ones, species of the genus Bouteloua. For Steppe also characteristic are many species of forbs from various families of dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous plants belonging to different biomorphs, some species of semi-shrubs (mainly from the genus wormwood) and steppe shrubs (in Europe and Asia from the genera of caragan, spirea, almonds). In the more northerly Steppe often there is a developed moss cover (from the species Thuidium, Tortilla), in the more southerly, with a thinned grass cover, lichens are found (from the genera Parmelia, Cladonia, Cornicularia, etc.). Vegetation cover Steppe very variable due to the alternation of arid and richer precipitation years and the presence of rodents (mainly mouse-like - phytophages and diggers), which in the years of peak numbers in places almost completely destroy the grass stand Steppe and dig up the surface of the soil, as a result of which natural deposits appear in vast areas, on which steppe vegetation is gradually restored.

The most extensive spaces Steppe occupy in Eurasia (from west to east from the lower reaches of the Danube to Inner Manchuria), where there are 3 main zonal types Steppe: real (typical), with a predominance of turf grains and not large quantity forbs; meadow (forest-steppe), from forbs and often with a continuous ground cover of mosses; desert (desertified), with a predominance of steppe turf grasses and a large number of xerophilous (mainly wormwood) dwarf shrubs (desert Steppe sometimes referred to as a semi-desert).

With geobotanical zoning, the steppe region of Eurasia is subdivided into 2 subregions: the Black Sea-Kazakhstan and Central Asian, which include the steppe and forest-steppe territories of Mongolia, South Transbaikalia and the inner regions of Manchuria. The first is dominated by coarse feathery feathergrass, the second is dominated by Central Asian species of feather grass, in desert Steppe- Central Asian species of small sod and low-growing desert-steppe feather grass. The first subregion is characterized by a relatively warm and relatively humid spring, and partly also by autumn. In spring and early summer, short-growing annuals (ephemerals) and perennials (ephemeroids) (from annuals - species of the genera of hornhead, beetroot, strawberry and other annuals - goose onions, tulips, geraniums, ferula, bulbous bluegrass, etc.) play a significant role here. ). For others, a dry, cold spring is characteristic; ephemera and ephemeroids are almost absent, and in more humid years, one- and two-year long-growing (until autumn) plants often develop in bulk (especially some types of wormwood). Cm.

Do not disturb, do not wake up
This quiet and sleepy one
This is the voice of the steppe, this voice of the steppe
Monotone.

See the white feather grass
Launched in the wind
Dust over the roads
Raised kilometers.

And the midday heat
Becoming an annoying ringing
Fills with itself, fills with itself
Weightlessness.

Where above the dead grass
An eagle scream is heard,
Got a marmot-sentry
Over my marmot.

And here in this silence
Under the killing sun
Mirages will float, mirages will float
To the horizons.

And around Kazakhstan,
And not just Russia.
And you are here, not there,
You are not in your element.

And you will see yourself
You are suddenly an uninvited guest
As if it is itself, as if it is itself
Primordialness.

Where a thousand versts
Only steppes, but steppes,
Like the rustle of birches
Not on this planet.

Only dry dust
Only the exuberant sun
Only the voice of the steppe, only the voice of the steppe
Monotone.

Steppe - these are treeless areas with chernozem or chestnut soils, covered with herbaceous vegetation.

The climate in the steppes is arid, with little precipitation, especially in summer. In the north, the steppes usually gradually turn into forest-steppe, in the south - into dry steppes or semi-deserts. A similar, but vertical, zoning can be observed in the region of mountain steppes.

The steppes occupy the largest areas in the inland parts of the Northern Hemisphere within the temperate zone, where steppe zones stretch from west to east in Europe and Asia and from north to south in North America.

In South America, the steppes occupy vast areas in the foothills of the Andes.

On a large territory, the steppes have long been plowed up (for example, in Europe, and on the territory of Russia, virgin steppes, in small areas, have been preserved mainly in reserves). I would like to note that even at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, there were certain regions in Russia where land cultivation was prohibited, as well as grazing of sheep and goats, only harvesting hay and grazing horses (for example, the Salsk steppes on the lands of the Rostov Cossack District). As V.A. Gilyarovsky, the local population (Kalmyks and Cossacks) was very sensitive to the ecosystem of the steppes ("The sheep eats the steppe ..." - they said).

But the Black Sea steppes were plowed up in the days Ancient Greece and the Great Roman Empire. At least a third of all wheat was brought from the region of the Northern Black Sea region.

The steppes are characterized by high summer and low winter temperatures, with low precipitation (from 250 to 450 mm per year). The average January temperature in different places is different and ranges from - 2 ° С to - 20 ° С

Highs winter temperatures reach -25 -30 ° С in the west and up to -35

- 40 ° С in the east. Precipitation in winter is insignificant, the average height of the snow cover is usually 10-30 cm or less. The second half of winter is characterized by increased wind, sometimes up to storm force, there are often strong blizzards (blizzards).

After a relatively harsh winter comes short spring... Most of the winter moisture reserves in a few days flow into the rivers, the soils undergo significant erosion, which leads to the widespread development of the gully-ravine network.

Flat watersheds are characterized by shallow depressions of subsidence origin - "steppe saucers", some of which retain water throughout the summer. But many of them are saline.

The snow usually melts by April and the cold weather quickly gives way to heat, although it can be very hot during the day and freezing at night!

The frost-free period lasts 165 days in the west and up to 120 days in the east. But summer in the steppe is often very hot - average temperature July 21 ° С - 27 ° С, which leads to intensive drying up of rivers and strong shallowing of lakes. Saline and salt lakes are common in dry steppes. There are dry winds and dust storms in the warm season (after the steppe dries up).

Most of the plants in the steppe are drought-resistant: they tolerate a lack of moisture well. These are drought and frost-resistant herbaceous perennial plants with a predominance of turf grasses, feather grass, fescue, fine-footed sheep, oat, bluegrass, etc., various types of sedges and bulbous plants (for example, irises and tulips).

In Russia and the CIS countries (primarily in Kazakhstan) virgin steppes have survived only in the northern part of the Kazakh Upland and in southern Transbaikalia.

Large steppe islands surrounded by mountain taiga are the steppes of the Minusinsk and Tuva depressions; in small areas, mainly on the southern slopes, the steppes extend far north-east. Siberia. Significant areas of the steppe also occupy the mountains of Transcaucasia, Western, Central and Central Asia, where they rise to the highlands.

In Russia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the steppes occupy very large areas - about one-sixth of the total territory.

Plain steppes stretch in a wide continuous strip from the west to the Ob River. To the east of the Ob, sections of the steppe lie only as separate "islands". There are steppe areas and steppes in the Trans-Volga region, in the south of the Central Russian and Volga Uplands, in the Ciscaucasia, Azov and Black Sea regions. Almost all of Mongolia and northwestern China are endless steppes.

Mountain (or upland) steppes form a special belt in the mountains of the Caucasus and Central Asia, which is located between the semi-desert belt and the belt of alpine meadows.

The mountain steppes are better preserved. In spring it is an excellent pasture for sheep and cattle. Smoother sections of mountain steppes are used as hayfields.

In addition to Eurasia, there are large steppe spaces in North America, but there climate change occurs from east to west, since the Cordillera distribute air flows coming from the Pacific Ocean, and a zone of insufficient moisture and with it a zone of steppes - prairie, are located from north to south along the eastern edge of the Cordillera.

In the prairies, in addition to the endemic (i.e., characteristic) sod species of feather grass, in the less arid northern prairies, various species of bearded vulture are common, and in more arid - species of the genus Bouteloua.

The northern subzones of the steppes, closer to the forest-steppe, are characterized by forbs from various families of dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous plants belonging to different biomorphs, some species of semi-shrubs (mainly wormwood) and steppe shrubs (in Europe and Asia from the genera of Karagan, Spiraea, and almonds).

In more northern steppes, a moss cover is sometimes developed, and in more southern steppes, with a sparse grass cover, lichens are found (from the genera Parmelia, Cladonia, Cornicularia, etc.).

The vegetation cover of the steppes is very changeable due to the alternation of arid, and richer precipitation years, as well as the presence of burrowing rodents - mice, marmots, jerboas, etc. the surface of the soil, that over vast areas "natural deposits" of discarded rock(clay and sand), on which the steppe vegetation is gradually being restored.

Chernozem soils contain a lot of humus and carbonates, are distinguished by high natural fertility.

On dark chestnut and chestnut soils, fertility is lower due to the lower humus content and frequent solonetzicity.

In the steppes, salt licks are often found, sometimes salt marshes. Considering that significant territories of the steppes of Europe and partly Asia (the territory of Russia) are plowed up and the sod cover is "broken" by overgrazing of livestock (primarily sheep), the preserved natural vegetation in the cereal steppes is represented by feather grass, fescue, thin-legged, bluegrass, zhitlyak, and also serpentine in the steppes of Transbaikalia and Central Asia, gram and bison grass in the prairies of North America, and forbs in typical steppes plays only a subordinate role, and in arid ones, the proportion of wormwood increases.

In some places, communities of shrubs (blackthorn, steppe cherry, bean, spirea, etc.) are widespread, mainly along the floodplains of rivers, the slopes of streams, there are forests.

There is usually no continuous turf in the steppes; between the tussocks of grasses there are areas of soil on which ephemerals and ephemeroids develop in spring. A number of steppe plants are of the tumbleweed type .

As already noted, on the East European Plain, virgin steppes have survived only in reserves. Due to periodically recurring droughts, water and wind erosion of soil, agriculture in the steppes needs amelioration.

The natural landscapes of the steppes are better preserved in the intermontane depressions of South Siberia and in the mountains of Central Asia, where important role playing pastoralism.

The most beautiful time in the steppe is spring!

Here is how Professor V.V.Alekhin describes the forb steppe: “... Imagine an immense space covered with a variegated carpet of all kinds of colors, sometimes forming a complex mosaic of bizarre addition, sometimes representing individual spots of blue, yellow, red, white shades. Sometimes the vegetable carpet is so colorful, so bright that it begins to ripple in the eyes and the gaze seeks reassurance in the distant horizon, where here and there small mounds, mounds can be seen, or somewhere far beyond the beam, spots of curly oak groves appear.

On a hot June day, the air is filled with the incessant hum of countless bees and other insects that visit the flowers; every now and then the quails are screaming, the gophers are whistling. And in the evenings everything calms down, only sharp, strange sounds are heard, made by the dergach hiding in the tall grass ... ”.

The colors of the northern forb steppe are constantly changing - in early spring, as soon as the snow melts, it is brown due to the remnants of last year's grass. But after a few days, the spring sun will wake up the steppe, and it will gradually begin to transform - large lilac pubescent bells of lumbago (dream-grass) bloom, green sprouts of cereals and sedges appear.

A few days later, the steppe changes again - golden stars of adonis (adonis) will appear between the bells of the dream-grass. The delicate blue flowers of hyacinth also bloom, and between the flowers there is a gentle green haze of growing grass, wild peonies, irises and tulips.

A few more days and the steppe changed again - the dream-grass faded, the golden stars of the adonis faded, the grasses rose and blossomed.

The steppe has become bright green, with rare white anemone stars and the tassels of a comic plant.

This is how April and May pass, and at the end of May or at the beginning of June the steppe is covered with a bright colorful carpet. Forget-me-nots turn blue on a green background, sparkle yellow flowers the groundwort, and above them sway white "feathers" - long pubescent awns on feather grass caryopses.

In mid-July, when summer is in full swing, the steppe turns dark purple - this is the sage blooming. But by the end of July, the sage fades, and the steppe becomes whitish - chamomile, mountain clover, fluffy creamy meadowsweet bloom.

And the height of the grass stand in the steppe is up to 70-90 cm, and sometimes up to a meter!

August ... It has not rained for a long time, the weather is hot, dry, some are still blooming bright flowers, but the colors of the steppe have faded, more and more brown and yellow spots- faded and dried plants.

Gradually the whole steppe turns brown and yellow, and only individual flowers stand out on a yellow-brown background. At the end of August, they disappear and ...

And the main thing in the steppe is space, and let the heat, the haze over the hills and valleys, the yellow steppe burned out in the merciless sun, but the smell, the smell of dust and wormwood, mounds, with constant guard marmots at the top, the wind carrying some strange memories, arising from the depths of the subconscious ... A rider with a curved bow is about to appear, or the cavalry will rush, disturbing the steppe ...

And in the twilight, when the sun has already disappeared behind the hill and the steppe is illuminated by reddish clouds illuminated by the setting sun, silent dark figures on horses can be seen in the twilight, instantly appearing and just as instantly disappearing ... And at night - the starry sky, and burning meteors flashing in the black sky ...

In the southern regions, small areas of feather-grass steppe have survived, which once covered the entire southern part of the Russian Plain.

Now feather grass is found only in some areas of the preserved virgin steppe, and once it was the main plant of the Russian steppes. It is accompanied by cereals: fescue, keleria, wheatgrass, etc. Their abundant roots penetrate the soil with their branches, extracting precious moisture from it.

Large dicotyledonous plants are scattered between the sods of these cereals: purple mullein, kermek, yellow pyrethrum, etc. Their roots penetrate even deeper than the roots of cereals, and draw moisture from the lowest layers of the soil, and sometimes from groundwater.

The feather grass steppes are not as colorful as the northern herb steppes. But those who have seen the feather-grass steppe at least once will never forget it.

In early spring, the brown steppe is colored with small yellow stars of goose onions and large ones with adonis. Later, white anemones bloom on the carpet of growing grass.

And then feather grass begins to spike ... Its long white awns spread, blow, iridescently sway over a sparse grass stand, consisting mainly of perennial grasses.

And when feather-grass spikes, the whole steppe looks silvery, along it, like on the sea, waves go: the silvery-gray awns bend and straighten again.

And in the morning in the steppe you can especially feel the wonderful boundless space, the air, fresh and at the same time dry, saturated with the aroma of thyme and sage, the blue vault of the sky is immense, and everywhere is the silvery haze of feather grass. And in the evening, at sunset, feather grass flashes with red fire, and it seems that the steppe has caught fire and a light, transparent reddish haze has enveloped the earth.

If heavy rains pass, the tufts of feather grass, fescue, bulbous bluegrass begin to turn green again, then seedlings of spring ephemera appear. In such a dark green dress, the grass steppe leaves under the snow of a short southern winter.

In late summer and autumn, in the feather grass steppe in windy weather, you can see a light, almost transparent ball jumping over the brown-yellow grass. Then two balls interlock and jump together; a few more balls join them, and now a whole shaft taller than a man's height is rolling across the steppe, taking single balls into itself. This is a tumbleweed ...

In the steppes of North America ( North American prairie) low cereals prevail - gram and bison grass.

In South America, in the Parana river basin, the steppes are called pampa... The rich, but dry soil of the pampa is covered with tough grasses a meter and a half in height, which cover the steppe in a dense mass and retain their green color throughout the year.

In terms of the number of plant species, the pampa flora is very poor, and its best decoration is luxurious grass, silvery guineria, the stems of which often reach a height of 2 and even 2.5 m.

The fauna of the steppes of Europe and Asia is not rich in species. The most characteristic antelopes are saiga and gazelle, wolf, fox, badger, marmot, jerboa, steppe ferret, steppe pestle, and among birds - bustard, little bustard, steppe tirkushka, gray partridge, steppe eagle, red falcon, steppe harrier, etc.

There are also reptiles: steppe viper, snake snake, variegated lizard, yellow-bellied snake, etc.

List of used literature

Alekhin V.V. Vegetation of the USSR in its main zones, 1934.
Berg L.S. Geographic zones Soviet Union... Moscow: 1952
Walter G., Alekhin V.V. Fundamentals of botanical geography, M. - L., 1936;
Voronov A.G., Drozdov N.N., Myalo E.G. Biogeography of the world. M .: "High school", 1985
Dokuchaev V.V. Our steppes before and now, St. Petersburg. 1892
Kazdym A.A. Saline and salt lakes of the Kumo-Manych trough (Rostov region) // Miass, 2006.
Kazdym A.A. Saline and saline lakes of the Kumo-Manych trough (Rostov region) as natural geological monuments // Orenburg, 2006.
Kazdym A.A. Paleoecological problems of the steppes in the historical period (from the Bronze Age to the present) // Orenburg, 2006. P. 322 - 324
Kazdym A.A. Historical and ecological aspect of the development of the steppes Northern Eurasia// Orenburg, 2009.

10. Kazdym A.A. Tales of a Scientific Tramp. Moscow: 2010.

11. Kazdym A.A. Historical ecology. Moscow: 2010.

12. Lavrenko E.M. Steppes and agricultural lands in the place of steppes, in the book: Vegetation cover of the USSR, M. - L., 1956

13. Steppes of Northern Eurasia. Digest of articles. Orenburg, 2009

14. Shchukin I.S. General morphology of land. M. - L. - Novosibirsk, ONTI NKTP USSR, 1934

15. Weaver J. E., North American prairie, Lincoln, 1954

16. Weaver J. E., Albertson F. W., Grasslands of the great plains, Lincoln, 1956

17.http: //www.zoodrug.ru/topic1829.html

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