Home – Home – Jornals – Flora and Vegetation of Asian Russia 2026 number 3

Plant communities on saline soils are a characteristic of steppe and forest-steppe landscapes, significantly contributing to the floristic and coenotic diversity of many regions of Russia. In terms of syntaxonomy the halophytic vegetation of the mountains of the Southern Siberia has been poorly described. Pioneer coenoses dominated by obligate halophytes are characterized for Transbaikalia and Southeast Altai. Analysis of 43 original relevés revealed the vegetation diversity of communities dominated by annual halophytes at seven sites within the steppe belt of the Republics of Tyva and Khakassia. The studied vegetation belongs to the Eurasian class Therosalicornietea and the South Siberian order Suaedetalia sibiricae . Three associations and six communities are characterized. The alliance Suaedion sibiricae is indicated by the dominance of Chenopodiaceae species and represents the main diversity of the class. The alliance includes three associations previously described from Transbaikalia. The ass. Suaedo sibiricae-Salicornietum perennantis and ass. Suaedetum sibiricae are widespread in Tyva and Khakassia, while the ass. Suaedetum mongolicae has been recorded only in Tyva. Coenoses representing these associations formed in salt lake basins along drying shoreline, where they often presented by easily recognizable vegetation belts. They also occur as small patches along the bottoms of temporary streams, and in contact with forb-grass communities of steppes and meadows on saline soils. Five communities dominated by Suaeda tuvinica , S. prostrata , S. corniculata , Atriplex patens and Bassia scoparia are also described within the alliance. The alliance Artemision anethifoliae unites wormwood ( Artemisia anethifolia ) communities and includes the comm. Puccinellia tenuissima-Artemisia anethifolia from the South Minusinsk Basin. Most of the syntaxa are characterized by local distribution, due to their rarity and the fragmentary data about halophytic vegetation in Altai-Sayan Mountains.