The Kazakh forest steppe

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

(WWF ID: PA0809) is a long thin strip of transition zone between the forested taiga of Siberian Russia (to the north), and the Kazakh steppe to the south. The ecoregion stretches over 2,000 km from the southern Ural mountains in the west to the foothills of Altai mountains in the east, yet averages only 200 km from south to north across its length. Because the region is farther inland than European forest steppe, and some 300 to 500 km farther north, the climate is more continental and with less precipitation the tree cover more sparse. The ecoregion is in the

Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The predominant vegetation in this biome consists of grass and/or shrubs. The climate is temperate and ranges from Semi-arid climate ...

biome, and the

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

, with a Humid Continental climate. It covers .

Location and description

The ecoregion stretches along the border between

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, mostly on the northern (Russian) side, with a few small sections in Kazakhstan proper. The terrain is relatively flat lowland plains, with wetlands in the depressions and strips of trees following water courses on the sandy soil. To the north is the

West Siberian taiga West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

ecoregion; to the south is the Kazakh steppe.

Climate

The climate of the region is '' Humid continental climate, warm summer'' (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

(Dfb)). This climate is characterized by high variation in temperature, both daily and seasonally; with long, cold winters and short, cool summers with no month averaging over . There is just sufficient precipitation (averaging 330 mm/year) to support patchy stands of trees. The mean temperature at the center of the ecoregion is in January, and in July.

Flora and fauna

The region exhibits the typical forest steppe mix of grasslands and forest too sparse to create a full canopy. Typical trees are birch, aspen and pine, often growing in small groves called 'kolky', with the pine trees often growing in long strips of sandy soil in formations called 'ribbon forests'. Swamps are common. The region was about 15% forested; this has been reduced by human activity. The most common grass is ''

Calamagrostis epigejos ''Calamagrostis epigejos'', common names wood small-reed or bushgrass, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae which is native to Eurasia and Africa. It is found from average moisture locales to salt marsh and wet habitats.

'' (bushgrass). A study in 2003 indicated that the small portion of the Kazakh forest steppe that is actually in Kazakhstan (about 21,000 Km2) shows cover that is 13% planted in spring wheat, 37% in dryland cropland/pasture, and 51% in a mosaic of cropland and forest.

Protections

There are two significant protected areas in the Kazakh forest steppe ecoregion; *

Ilmen Nature Reserve Ilmen Nature Reserve (russian: Ильменский заповедник) (also Ilmensky) is a Russian 'zapovednik' (strict nature reserve) that was created by decree of Vladimir Lenin, in 1920 as a mineralogical nature reserve. It is the site of ...

, protecting an area of the

Ilmensky Mountains The Ilmensky Mountains (russian: links=no, Ильменские горы, translit=Il'menskiye gory) are located in the Southern Urals in the Chelyabinsk Oblast on the administrative territory of Miass in Chebarkulsky and Argayashsky districts. ...

on the southeast of the

Ural mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

that has historically been the subject of intense mineral extraction, with over 400 former mines in the borders. * Tigireksky Nature Reserve, on the far eastern end of the ecoregion, at the foothills of the

Altai-Sayan region The Altai-Sayan region is an area of Inner Asia proximate to the Altai Mountains and the Sayan Mountains, near to where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together. This region is one of the world centers of temperate plant diversity. It ...

, and transitioning into mountain-steppe habitats.

External links

References