Rangeland-based livestock production is the major agricultural use in most of Uzbekistan. After independence, range management practices changed radically and the objective of this study was to monitor trends in species composition and condition on range sites representative of the rangelands of Uzbekistan.
Percent aerial cover data from 2001 to 2006 were analyzed using detrended correspondence analysis to ordinate rangeland communities of 5 sampling sites across the arid and semi-arid zone of Uzbekistan. Year-to-date cumulative precipitation and average temperature minima and maxima for the 2 months preceding the sampling date were used as covariates. Our results show that using unsupervised classification, a characteristic separation of major rangeland communities resulted that mostly corresponds with releve-based community analysis performed by Soviet scientists. One major exception occurred which is discussed in detail.
Some species were identified as highly generalistic, e.g., Artemisia diffusa and Cousinia resinosa, whereas other were highly site-specific, e.g. Salsola richteri for Tamditau, S. praecox for Buchara 1 and Ceratocarpus arenarius for Kuldjuktau.
The analysis of species composition changes over time can demonstrate the effects of management in these pasture as well as possible effects of changes in weather conditions. Our data summarize the first systematic, long-term quantitative range inventory of Uzbekistan and are highly relevant for future management plans needed by the rapidly developing range livestock industry of this country.