Belikovich A.V., Galanin A.V.
Transbaikalian kharganat as a type of vegetation
Year: 2005, Issue: LII, Pages: 98 - 126
The paper suggests to distinguish a new vegetation type characteristic to steppe and forest-steppe zones of South Siberia and name it kharganat following the name ascribed to it by local residents. Kharganat is dense, impassable thickets of deciduous shrubs (Armeniaca sibirica, Spiraea spp., Cotoneaster spp., Rhamnus parvifolia, Rosa spp., Artemisia gmelinii, etc.) interspersed with low elms (Ulmus macrocarpa, U. pumila, U.japonicus), often met on steep and rocky southern slopes. These chaparral-like communities have been named as mountain shrub steppe. Based on vegetation descriptions made by the authors in Куга District, Chita Oblast, Mongolian Border, it is shown that all such communities can be divided into Elm Kharganat, Apricot one, and Spiraea one, with the latter two being succession stages of Elm Kharganat. The paper proves that kharganat is derived from Tertuary deciduous forest of Manchzhur Vegetation, with elm, birch, and oak trees, having penetrated inner Asia to Baikal Lake and lost the layer of trees due to arid climate. In the modern time, they occupy Dahur-Khangai Vegetation Province and with humidization process can transform back to the elm forests. The paper gives a list of species met in these communities, discusses general problems of their genesis, and describes analogous communities in other mountain arid regions of the world.