Abstract
Aims: To complete the syntaxonomic scheme for tall-forb vegetation of the montane and alpine belts in the Pamir-Alai and western Tian Shan Mountains in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with some remarks on its environmental predictors. Study area: Middle Asia: Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Methods: A total of 244 relevés were sampled in 2013–2019 using the seven-degree cover-abundance scale of the Braun-Blanquet approach. These were classified with a modified TWINSPAN algorithm with pseudospecies cut-levels 0%, 5% and 25%, and total inertia as a measure of cluster heterogeneity. Diagnostic species were identified using the phi coefficient as a fidelity measure. NMDS was used to explore the relationships between the distinguished groups. Results: Our classification revealed 19 clusters of tall-forb vegetation in Middle Asia. Among others we found forb communities typical for Tian Shan, western Pamir-Alai, forb-scree vegetation of Pamir-Alai, dry tall-forbs and typical forbs of the alpine belt. A total of eight new tall-forb associations and five communities were distinguished. The forb vegetation of Middle Asia has been assigned to the class Prangetea ulopterae Klein. The main factors differentiating the species composition of the researched vegetation are elevation, mean annual temperature, sum of annual precipitation and inclination of the slope. Conclusions: The paper presents the first insight into the comprehensive classification of the alpine forb vegetation in Middle Asia and fosters progress in explaining the relationship of boreo-temperate and Mediterranean-like (Irano-Turanian) vegetation in western Asian and central Asian subregions of the Irano-Turanian phytogeographical region. Taxonomic references: The nomenclature of the vascular plants follows generally Cherepanov (1995) and for Bromus spp. The Plant List (2020) Version 1.1. http://www.theplantlist.org/. Syntaxonomic references: The names of syntaxa are used in accordance with Ermakov (2012), Gadghiev et al. (2002) and Nowak et al. (2018). Abbreviation: NMDS = Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling.
Highlights
Tall-forb vegetat on s known to be one of the most prom nent and spec es-r ch commun t es, part cularly n m oun ta nous landscape (Koc 2001)
In the newest class f ca t on, the shrubby krummholz s excluded and ncorporated nto Betulo carpat cae-Alnetea v r d s (Muc na et al 2016). All these prom nent vegetat on types of the mounta nous landscapes occur at vary ng elevat ons, ma nly from lower m ontane to the h gh alp ne belt
Spec es w th a ph coeff c ent h gher than 0.20 were cons dered d agnos t c for a part cular cluster
Summary
Tall-forb vegetat on s known to be one of the most prom nent and spec es-r ch commun t es, part cularly n m oun ta nous landscape (Koc 2001). In the newest class f ca t on, the shrubby krummholz s excluded and ncorporated nto Betulo carpat cae-Alnetea v r d s (Muc na et al 2016). All these prom nent vegetat on types of the mounta nous landscapes occur at vary ng elevat ons, ma nly from lower m ontane to the h gh alp ne belt. For th s type of tall-forb vegetat on, n the northern Iran, the class Prangetea ulopterae was co ned (Kle n 1987)
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