Species of the Brassicaceae Family in the Betpak-Dala Desert

详细

A list of species from the family Brassicaceae Burnett was compiled based on the identification of herbarium samples collected in the Betpak-Dala desert in May 2014, a critical revision of the materials of Herbariums (AA and LE), and consideration of the literature data, The inclusion of some species (Matthiola robusta Bunge, Isatis violascens Bunge, I. maxima Pavl., etc.) in this list is discussed in more detail. The gen-eral list of Brassicaceae comprises 80 species. Eight species (10%) grow only in disturbed areas. These species, which are uncommon in the natural flora of the Betpak-Dala desert, were excluded from the analyzed list at the first stage of analysis. The final list for analysis included 72 species combined in 36 genera. The following genera proved to have the largest number of species in accordance with the study of the taxonomical compo-sition of Brassicaceae: Lepidium—13 (18%), Strigosella—6 (8%), and Alyssum—5 (7%). The classification of species into different vital forms revealed the indisputable dominance of annual plants (42 species), which are mostly ephemers (28 species). The analysis of the preference given by Brassicaceae to different edaphic variants showed that the majority of species prefer pelitophytic substrates. Only a few of them prefer hemi-petrophytic substrates. Of the 53 species growing on salinized substrates, 29 were found on alkaline soils and 24 were found on saline soils. It was shown that most species from the family Brassicaceae grow in either nat-ural undisturbed or weakly and moderately disturbed phytocenoses. Among the secondary (anthropophy-lous) habitats of species from the family Brassicaceae, agricultural lands (crops) are most preferred. In these habitats, 25 species of the general list of Brassicaceae in the Betpak-Dala desert were recorded.