Communities of Hyperhalophytes Dwarf Semishrubs Formations in the Desert Zone of the North-Western Caspian Lowland

Hyperhalophytes dwarf semishrubs communities in the desert zone of the North-Western Caspian lowland are confined only to solonchaks along the shores of saline lakes, which stretch from north to south and southeast from 47° N to 45° N. Cenoses are poor in species composition and include from 1 to 10 species. The exception is the formation formed by Artemisia santonica, which has 42 species. The communities of the Caroxylon dendroides, Kalidium foliatum, and Anabasis salsa formations are located at the northwestern limit of their range, most of which are located in the vast Iranian–Turanian desert. The cenoses of Halocnemum strobilaceum have a wider range – the Mediterranean (from North Africa to Middle and Central Asia). Communities of Halimione verrucifera, Artemisia santonica, Frankenia hirsuta, and Limonium suffruticosum are distributed from the Black Sea region to the Caspian lowland (Lavrenko, 1980). The communities of the hyperhalophytes under consideration are confined to a certain type of salinity and the range of the position of the groundwater level. In the northern part of the region, the sodium sulfate type of salinity predominates mainly in the first meter of soils, and communities formed by Artemisia santonica, Caroxylon dendroides, and Anabasis salsa are associated with these conditions. In the southern part, chlorine ions dominate in the salt composition of soils, and the cenoses of other formations are associated with these conditions (Goryaev, 2019; Goryaev, Korablev, 2020). The novelty of the work is related to the fact that, based on research data conducted in the period 2017–2024 in the North-Western Caspian lowland, located in the desert zone, the ecological and phytocenotic classification of hyperhalophytic dwarf semishrubs communities was performed for the first time, ordination and cluster analysis was carried out with respect to salinization and soil moisture factors.