Included here are the deserts and semi-deserts of eastern Transcaucasia, the precaspian lowlands including the lower reaches of the Volga and Ural rivers, the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea to the basin of Lake Ala Kul, the Ust Urt Plateau, the Turan lowland around the Aral Sea, the Karakum and Kyzyl Kum deserts, the Muyunkum Sands, Bet-Pak-Dola and the Sary-Ishikotrau sands, the footshills of the Piedmont Plains along the Kopet Dagh and extending along the Pamiro-Alai and along the western Tien Shan, the intermontane valleys of the Mirzachcul, the Karshingsky Steppe and other plains of southern Uzbekistan.

Turanian Deserts

In total this area supports some 350 psammophilic species, 56% of which are endemic, but are shrubs (see Desert-Scrub Biome). Deserts within this zone, such as the Karakum Desert, also support many spring geophytes. Some of the more notable are Eminium lehmannii, Eremurus inderiensis, Iris songarica and the endemic Rhinopetalum arianum (Liliaceae) and Schummania karelinii (family?). Occasionally grasses such as Peganum harmala, Stipagrostis karelinii, S. pennata or the endemic Agropyron fragilis (Poaceae) dominate communities. Stipagrostis karelinii is a perennial that can reach 1 m in height and is often a pioneer of barkan dunes in the Kara Kum Desert. Stipagrostis pennata forms denser communities in more stable areas. Associated taxa usually include small shrubs such as Artemisia santolina and the endemic or near endemic Astragalus ammodendron and A. transcaspica (Fabaceae), while the herbaceous species may include Ceratocarpus utriculosus, Ferula assafoetida and Kochia odontoptera.

References

Chemonics International Inc. Washington, DC. 2001. Biodiversity Assessment for Turkmenistan. Submitted to USAID Central Asian Republics Mission, Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Fet, V. & Atamuradov, K. I. 1994. Biogeography and Ecology of Turkmenistan. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Paulsen, O. 1913. Transcaspian Vegetation. Journal of Ecology, 1: 133-134.

Walter, H. & Box, E. O. 1983. Central Kazakhstan. In: Ecosystems of the World 5 - Temperate Deserts and Semi-Deserts. Ed. N. E. West. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company.

Walter, H. & Box, E. O. 1983. Middle Asian Deserts. In: Ecosystems of the World 5 - Temperate Deserts and Semi-Deserts. Ed. N. E. West. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company.

Walter, H. & Box, E. O. 1983. The Karakum Desert. In: Ecosystems of the World 5 - Temperate Deserts and Semi-Deserts. Ed. N. E. West. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company.

Walter, H. & Box, E. O. 1983. Caspian Lowland Biome. In: Ecosystems of the World 5 - Temperate Deserts and Semi-Deserts. Ed. N. E. West. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company.

Wendelbo, P. 1971. Some distributional patterns within the flora Iranica area. In: Plant Life of South-West Asia. Eds. P. H. Davies, P. C. Harper & I. C. Hedge. The Botanical Society of Edinburgh.