沙漠研究 24-1, 265-268 (2014)
Ἃ₍◊✲ 24-1, 265 - 268 (2014)
Journal of Arid Land Studies
Journal of Arid Land Studies－ DT11 Refereed Paper －㸫DT11 Refereed Paper㸫Effect of Gas Extraction on the State of Euphorbia sclerocyathium
Korov.et M.Pop. Population
Habibullo F. SHOMURODOV*1) and Shakhnoza SARIBAEVA 1)
Abstract: This article cites the results of a three-year study of the modern state of a rare Central Asian species, Euphorbia
sclerocyathium Korovin et Popov, the population of which is affected by gas extraction. The age composition and biometrical valuesof individuals were revealed to assess the state of populations of this species. The analysis of the obtained data shows that theontogenic structure of the species in Shahbahta is not complete as senile individuals are absent. However, in most cases biometricvalues are positive. Based on the aggregation of ontogenetic structures and biometric values, the vitality of the species in thiscenopopulation is evaluated as moderate. It is noteworthy that the prevalence of a pre-generative age state and young generative
individuals in a population is connected with plants supporting their population through vegetative breeding (i.e. the availability ofrhizome).
Key Words: Cenopopulation, Ontogenetic structures, Species vitality, Ustyurt Plateau

1. Introduction
The Uzbek part of Ustyurt occupies the area of more than
7.2 million ha and is an elevated plateau occupying thenorthern part of the Aral-Caspian watershed. The Ustyurt
escarpment in the east is formed by a former western coast of
the Aral Sea. The extreme conditions resulting from thedrying up of the Aral Sea have brought about the deteriorationof the ecological complex of the Ustyurt, which significantlyaffected the natural vegetation.
Plant landscapes in Ustyurt have been forming owing toplants of a primary stony desert and heterogeneous flora(Popov, 1923), the fragments of which have been preserved ina modern plant cover in the form of rare species. Korovin(1943) assigned Salsola chiwensis, Sisymbrium subspinescens,
Cleome noeana, Seseli tenuifolium, S. cuneifolium,
Zygophyllum macropterum, Z. brachypterum, Z. eichwaldii
and Z. turcomanicum to this group. According to this author,
402 plant species grow there, of which 19.7% belong to thefamily Chenopodiaceae. The most authentic data on the floraof the studied region are available in the work of Allaniyazov(Saribaev, 1983). In this work, the author cites 406 plant
species of 208 genera belonging to 46 families.
While analyzing the flora of the entire Ustyurt, Saribaev(1987) established that the flora of this region is comprised 724
species of 295 genera and 60 families. According to
Allaniyazov (1995), the families Chenopodiaceae, Asteraceae,Brassicaceae, Poaceae and Fabaceae prevail by their specific* Corresponding Author: h.shomurodov@mail.ru
232 gishamol streer, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
1) Institute of Gene pool of Plants and Animals, Uzbek Academy of Sciences

diversity in Ustyurt. In the plant cover perennial herbs prevail,followed by annual herbs, semi-shrubs, biennial herbs, trees
and shrubs.
The numbers of rare and endemic species in the plant coverof the Ustyurt Plateau is low. These include Climacoptera
ptiloptera U.P.Pratov, Euphorbia sclerocyathium Korovin etPopov, Malacocarpus crithmifolius (Retz.) C.F.May., Atriplex
pratovii Sukhor., Crambe edentula Fish. et Mey. and Salsola
chiwensis Popov, growing in grey-brown gypsum bearing andsaline soils of Ustyurt. The eastern border of the range of thelatter two species to some extent overlaps the Kyzylkum desert.
Besides, not far from the eastern escarpment of the plateau in2010 we found and described Allium ravenii F.O.Khass.,
Shomuradov and Kadyrov from the subgenus Allium L.
(Khassanov et al., 2010). Four species of vascular plantsfrom this region were included into the last edition of the Red
Data Book of the Republic of Uzbekistan, namely,
Malacocarpus crithmifolius (Retz.) C.F.May., Climacoptera
ptiloptera U.P.Pratov, Salsola chiwensis Popov and Euphorbia
sclerocyathium Korovin et Popov, to which the present article
is devoted.

2. Materials and Methods
Euphorbia sclerocyathium Korovin et Popov belongs tothe Euphorbiaceae family. It grows on stony and sandy soils,
as well as on solonetz soils, saline grey-brown, stony andsandy soils.
Outside Uzbekistan it also grows inTurkmenistan. To assess the cenopopulation of Euphorbia㸦Received, September 14th, 2013; Accepted, December 10th, 2013㸧

266

Salsola orientalisHaloxylon aphyllum

Caragana grandifloraHaloxylon aphyllum

Motley grass - Salsolaorientalis

N 42º36.604'
E 056º16.982'

N 42º36.812'
E 56º17.913'

N 42º36.631'
E 056º17.147'

Along with the alarming ecological condition connectedwith the drying Aral Sea, gas exploration has been intensively
carried out by various oil-gas extracting companies in the last
several years which has negatively affected the vital state ofboth the dominants and rare endangered species in Ustyurt
Plateau (Shomurodov, 2012; Bykova et al., 2012). In thisarticle we discuss the modern state of one of the rare Ustyurt
species, Euphorbia sclerocyathium. In the Uzbek part ofUstyurt, Euphorbia sclerocyathium has been known from threeareas, namely, the vicinity of the well Tabansu, Village
Karyn-Aruk and Village Barsakelmes. During the field trips
conducted in 2011-2013 we have found another population ofthis species in the south of Ustyurt, not far from theTurkmenistan border.
The relief of the described area is uneven. The soil isgypsum bearing and speckled. The plant cover is sparse; theedificatory is Anabasis salsa. This most widespread dominant
in Ustyurt shows an exceptional ecological plasticity growing
on grey-brown and takyr soils varying in levels of salinity. Itis noteworthy that the studied population is 7-10 km from thecurrently exploited gas well. Net-like roads have emerged
around the wells; many of them emerged in areas of E.
sclerocyathium growth. These roads show a dubious effecton the vitality of plants of adjoining areas. First, heavy trucks
destroy all the vegetation with their wheels. The roads
become constantly deeper thus forming deep ruts, whichmakes the use of these roads difficult. Thus, new roads
emerge in parallel with the old ones. Sands gradually fillthese ruts and owing to a favorable water regime they become
overgrown with annual herbs to be followed by perennial ones.
As a result, a column of as many as 30 individuals of E.
sclerocyathium is formed in these ruts. Unfortunately, 3-4

Euphorbia sclerocyathium.
Motley grass- Salsolaarbuscula

3. Results and Discussion

Table 1. The list of species and projected cover of communities with

N 42º36.592'
E 056º16.964'

sclerocyathium on the south of Ustyurt Plateau four sites were
set up in which the species composition was identified andprojected cover of isolated sites was determined.
We used cenopopulation methods (Vorontschova et al.,1976) to assess the state of Euphorbia sclerocyathium,included to the Red Data Book of Uzbekistan under the status
2. As well as dominants and subdominants of plantcommunities, we took into account: ontogenetic structures ofspecies (juvenile - j, immature - i, adult virgin - v, young
generative - g1, mid-aged generative - g2, old generative - g3
and senile individuals - s); height of the shrub; length ofskeleton shoots; length of annual shoots; number of annual
vegetative shoots; and percentage of perennial shoots.
Vitality of studied species as described by Cheremushkina(2004) is divided into three categories: low, average and high.

121211101055

2020
1199
-2255
112222--33111166
8855

Trees
Trees
Haloxylon
Haloxylon aphyllumaphyllum

1111--

11

SShrubs
hrubs
Astragalus
Astragalus scleroxylon
scleroxylon
Atraphaxis
Atraphaxis spinosaspinosa
Caragana
Caragana grandiflora
grandiflora

22---

----

++
-33

++
++
11

Calligonum
Calligonum junceum
junceum
Convolvulus
Convolvulus fruticosus
fruticosus
Halocnemum
Halocnemum strobilaceum
strobilaceum22-----11-----22--

Lycium
Lycium rutenicum
rutenicum
SalsolaSalsola arbusculaarbuscula-55-11---

1122

SSemi-shrubs
emi-shrubs
SalsolaSalsola orientalis
orientalis
Limonium
Limonium suffruticosum
suffruticosum
Artemisia
Artemisia diffusa
diffusa11++--

22---++
1144
2222

Perennial
Perennial plants
plantsAnabasisAnabasis brachiata
brachiata
Aeluropus
Aeluropus litoralis
litoralis
Euphorbia
Euphorbia sclerocyathium
sclerocyathium++-11-++++-++-++++--------++
22++

Taktajianiantha
Taktajianiantha pusila
pusilaStipa
Stipa caspica
caspica
Zygophyllum
Zygophyllum turcomanicum
turcomanicum

-----

++
++
--++
--

++
++
++

AnnualAnnual plants
plantsClimacoptera
Climacoptera lanata
lanataE.
E. orientale
orientale
Euphorbia
Euphorbia inderiensis
inderiensis++-++-++----++-11--

Lactuca
Lactuca undilata
undilata
Senecio
Senecio subdentatus
subdentatus++---------++

Plant
Plant community
community

Coordinates
Coordinates

Projected
Projected cover,cover, %%Areas
Areas occupied
occupied byby trees,trees, %%Shrubs,Shrubs, %%Semi-shrubs,Semi-shrubs, %%M
Motleyotley grass,grass, %%List
List ofof species
species

Haplophyllum
Haplophyllum obtusifolium
obtusifolium
JurineaJurinea multiloba
multiloba
OnosmaOnosma stamineum
stamineum

years later these roads are again used by heavy trucks and all
the vegetation including the young population of the studied
species is again destroyed. Second, the studies showed thatsalt-dust particles raised by trucks adversely affected thegrowth and development of plants. The latest studies havedocumented that the radius of the effect of these salt-dust
particles reaches as far as 400-500 m.
The botanical composition of the described sites is not big.
From 6 to 26 species of vascular plants were recorded in thesesites. The projected cover constitutes 5.0-20.0%. Shrubs
prevail in the plant cover of these sites, followed bysemi-shrubs, motley grass and trees (Table 1). A similar

26740353025ζ120ζ215ζ310ζ44. Conclusion

50moderate. In the last site we recorded 13 individuals, ofwhich 4 were immature (30.7%), 1 adult virgin (7.6%), g1
constituted 23.0%; g2, 15.3% and g3, 23.0%. The prevalenceof young and absence of dried individuals suggests themoderate vital cenopopulation.

vg1

g2

g3

ontog e ne tic s truc ture

Fig. 1. Age states of Euphorbia

sclerocyathiumin studied

cenopopulations (No 1-4).

trend is typical for heterogeneous plants throughout Ustyurt.
In the first site, where the dominant in plant cover was Salsola
arbuscula, we recorded 33 individuals of E. sclerocyathium, of
which 84.3% were generative and 15.6% virgin. Of
generative plants, mid-aged individuals (g2) prevailed -35.8%;
plants at the post- senile age (g3) constituted 30.0%, while g1
were only 19.0%.
The length of shoots in virgin individuals reached 4.5-10.8,
but was 17.2-32 cm in generative ones. The ratio ofgenerative shoots to vegetative ones was 32.4%. In thedescribed site there were no dried or partly dried plants. By
the aggregate of these values, the vitality of the species in thiscenosis was assessed as moderate. In the second site werecorded six species; the projected plant cover is below 5%,
which is connected with the effect of the motor road crossing
the center of this site. The vitality of the dominants and E.
sclerocyathium was low in this site. We recorded 13individuals of the species, of which v constituted 38.5%, g1 23.1% and g3 -38.5 %. The height of the plants ranged
within 7 to 21 ɫm. In the described site no dried plants wererecorded; however, dried shoots were recorded in some young
and old generative individuals. The prevalence of oldgenerative plants, presence of dried shoots and absence ofsenile plants suggested a low vitality of this species in the givencenopopulation.
Another site was set up along a dried up stream in thesouthern slope. The edificatory of the plant cover wereHaloxylon aphyllum and Caragana grandiflora. The species
composition of the community consists of thirteen plant
species, where the herbs constitute 54.0% of the total numberof plant species. Of 25 individuals recorded in thiscenopopulation, 15.0% are v, while g1, g2 and 3 constitute19.1, 35.9 and 30.0%, respectively (Fig. 1). Senile plants
were absent in this site. The height of the above-soil part isrecorded within 5.1-27.0 cm depending on the ontogenetic
state of the individuals. Despite relatively positive biometricindices and ontogenetic structures in this site, the share of dry
shoots is high, which enables the assessment of the vitality as

The analysis of the vital state of E. sclerocyathium in four
isolated sites situated not far from wells and roads showed that
it was mostly assessed as average. Practically in all studied
sites, plants at the senile age were absent, which suggests ahigh anthropogenic effect on vegetation. The portion of
suppressed individuals is insignificant, while the ratio of dry
shoots to the assimilating ones in some cases reached 46.1%.
In general, based on the results obtained from four sites, we
assess the vitality of E. sclerocyathium in this population asaverage. However, it should be noted that these plants
propagate by vegetative mean (the presence of roots) which
supports their population. Under the intensive anthropogenicpressure on the plant cover in the studied area, which iscurrently observed, this population in the near future will be on
the brink of extinction.
To conserve the Shahpahta
population of this species it is recommended to significantly
reduce the negative effect by constructing asphalt roads andregulating the traffic of heavy trucks.

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