Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2012 number 2

Reconstruction of the dynаmics of the range of Artemisia genus was carried out with the help of palynoareological method on the basis of the data of 97 pollen diagrams from the territory of West Siberia and the Altay-Sayan mountainous region over the millennial time sections since the Late Glacial time till the present time. It was revealed that the maximal spread of the absinthe steppe communities (probably of the cryoarid pattern) occurred at the territory under examination 13-10 thousand years ago. After the time point of 9 thousand years ago, a fundamental change of the landscapes of West Siberia occurred, which resulted in the decomposition of previously continuous absinthe steppe cover into separate blocks. Since 8 thousand years ago, the absinthe steppe communities of modern appearance occupied the zone of modern steppe and forest-steppe of West Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan, while over the taiga zone the absinthe communities were spread occasionally under the extrazonal conditions and as the pioneering plant groupings on affected soil. Since the time point of 4 thousand years ago till the present time, the northern boundary of the steppe zone underwent pulsing shifts to the north and back, and also broadening and narrowing of isolated steppe islands took place. At present, we observe an increase in the role of absinthe plants in the tundra zone of West Siberia and in the Altay mountains.