STEPPE OF CENTRAL ASIA
The famous steppe of Central Asia is 3000-mile-long, flat or gently rolling grassland, averaging 500 miles in width. It is mostly treeless except for areas along riverbanks. It's name is derived from “stepi”, "meaning plain.
The Central Asian steppe stretches from Mongolia and the Great Wall of China in the east to Hungary and the Danube River in the west. It is bounded by the taiga forest of Russia to the north and by desert and mountains to the south. It is located at about same latitude as the American plains and embraces a dozen countries, including Russia, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and several other former Soviet Republics.
Describing the steppes, Polish Nobel laureate Henry Sienkiewicz wrote in “With Fire and Sword”, "The steppes are wholly desolate and unpeopled yet filled living menace. Silent and still yet seething with hidden violence, peaceful in their immensity yet infinitely dangerous, these boundless spaces were a masterless, untamed country created foe ruthless men who acknowledge no one as their overlord."
The poor yellow steppe soil is much less fertile than rich black earth found in southern Russia and Ukraine. When the topsoil is stripped of vegetation it becomes dusty and is easily blown away in the wind.
Grassland soil and plants store large amounts of carbon dioxide. When they are burned they release large amounts of carbon dioxide onto the atmosphere and contribute to global warming,
Steppe Plants and Grasses
Steppes are covered mostly by sparse grass or grasses and shrubs such as saxual. Trees are often stunted. Large trunks, branches and leaves require a lot of water to maintain. When the steppes meet the foot foothills, you can find wild poppies, even wild opium poppies.
The grass family is one of the largest in the plant kingdom, embracing some 10,000 different species worldwide. Contrary to what you might think, grasses are fairly complex plants. What you see are only their leaves.
Grass flowers are often not recognizable as such. Because grasses rely on the breeze to distribute pollen (there is a usually lots of wind on the steppe) and they don't need colorful flowers to attract pollinators such as birds and bees. Grass flowers have scales instead of pedals and grow in clusters on special tall stems that lift them high enough to be carried by the wind.
Grasses need lots of sunlight. They do not grow well in forests or other shady areas. Tall feather grass grows well in the well-watered parts of the steppe. Shorter grass grows better in the dry steppe where there is less rainfall. Chiy, a grass with cane-like reeds, is used by nomads to make decorative screens in the yurts
Grasses can tolerate lack of rain, intense sunlight, strong winds, shredding from lawnmowers, the cleats of Athletes and the hooves of grazing animals. They can survive fires: only their leaves burn; the root stocks are rarely damaged.
The ability of grass to endure such harsh conditions lies in the structures of its leaves, The leaves of other plants spring from buds and have a developed a network of veins that carry sap and expand into the leaf. If a leaf is damaged a plant can seal its veins with sap but do little else. Grass leaves on the other hand don't have a network of veins, rather they have unbranched veins that grow straight, and can tolerate being cut, broken or damaged, and keep growing.
Mountains of Central Asia: Biodiversity Hotspot
In 2005, the mountains of Central Asia were declared a biodiversity hot spot by Conserbation International because it is rich in unique wildlife and plant life and also threatened by the encroachment of people.
Comprising two of Asia's major mountain ranges, the Mountains of Central Asia were known to early Persians as the "roof of the world." The hotspot's ecosystems range from glaciers to desert, and include a highly threatened type of walnut-fruit forest, unique to this region, which contains ancestors of domestic fruit varieties and is an important storehouse of genetic diversity. The hotspot is also home to a rich variety of ungulates, including the threatened argali wild sheep. [Source: Conservation International, Critical Ecosysten Partnership Fund, CEPF,net]
Vital Signs: A) Hotspot Original Extent: 863,362 square kilometers; B) Hotspot Vegetation Remaining: 172,672 square kilometers; C) Endemic Plant Species: 1,500; D) Endemic Threatened Birds: 0; E) Endemic Threatened Mammals: 3; F) Endemic Threatened Amphibians: 1; G) Extinct Species: 0; H) Human Population Density (people/square kilometers): 42; I) Area Protected; 59,563 square kilometers):
The Mountains of Central Asia hotspot consists of two of Asia's major mountain ranges, the Pamir and the Tien Shan. Politically, the hotspot’s 860,000 square kilometers include southern Kazakhstan, most of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, eastern Uzbekistan, western China, northeastern Afghanistan, and a small part of Turkmenistan. The hotspot has many mountains above 6,500 meters in elevation, as well as major desert basins, the largest of which is the Fergana Valley. The hotspot holds a large number of endemic plant species, but water stress and civil conflict have placed much of its unique biodiversity under serious threat.
The Pamir mountain range, which includes the Eastern Pamir, Western Pamir and Pamir-Alai Mountains, was known to early Persians as the "roof of the world." The Eastern Pamir are plateau-like with limited altitudinal variation, while the Western Pamir are characterized by sharp ridges, steep slopes and deep valleys and gorges. The hotspot's highest peak is Kongur, which rises to 7,719 meters in the Chinese Pamir; four other peaks are above 7,000 meters. The 300-km-long, 150-km-wide Fergana valley separates the Pamir from the Tien Shan Mountains, a complex series of ranges extending for 2,500 kilometers from west to east. The hotspot also holds more than 20,000 glaciers, covering around 18,000 square kilometers.
The climate in the Mountains of Central Asia is generally arid. Precipitation falls mainly in winter and spring and varies from more than 1,500 millimeters in the Gissar Range in the west of the hotspot to less than 100 millimeters in the Eastern Pamir.
The predominant vegetation types in the hotspot are desert, semi-desert and steppe on all the lower slopes and foothills and in some of the outlying ranges and major basins. Patches of riverine woodland survive in the Ili valley and a few other places. At higher altitudes, steppe communities, dominated by various species of grasses and herbs occur, while shrub communities are widespread in the lower steppe zone. Spruce forests, the only coniferous forest type in the hotspot, occur on the moist northern slopes of the Tien Shan, while open juniper or archa forest occurs widely between 900 and 2,800 meters. Subalpine and alpine meadows occur in the western part of the mountains, from 2,000 to 4,000 meters and above. At the very highest and coldest elevations, there is limited vegetation cover and diversity, with cushion plants, snow-patch plants and tundra-like vegetation.
Plants of the Central Asia Mountains
The flora of the Mountains of Central Asia is a mix of Boreal, Siberian, Mongolian, Indo-Himalayan and Iranian elements. There are more than 5,500 known species of vascular plants in the hotspot, about 1,500 of which are endemic. There are also 64 endemic genera, including 21 from the family Umbelliferae and 12 from the family Compositae. The endemic flora includes several tree species, grasses (such as Atraphaxis muschketovii and Stipa karatavica), and numerous herbs. There are many species of wild onion, including Allium pskemense, a very rare large onion found only in a small part of the Pskem Range of the Western Tien Shan. [Source: Conservation International, Critical Ecosysten Partnership Fund, CEPF,net]
A type of walnut-fruit forest unique to Central Asia can be found above the steppe zone in warm sheltered coves in the western Pamir-Alai and Tien Shan. The fruit and nut trees in these diverse forests include walnut (Juglans regia), almonds (Amygdalus communis and A. bucharensis), pears (Pyrus korshinskyi and P. regelii), plums (Prunus sogdiana and P. ferganica), and cherry (Cerasus mahaleb), along with maples (Acer turkestanicum and A. semenovii) and a few Chinese walnuts (Juglans cathayana) that survive in one location in the eastern Tien Shan. This ancient forest type contains ancestors of domestic fruit varieties and is an important storehouse of wild genetic diversity. About 90 percent of this habitat has been lost in the last 50 years.
More than 16 endemic species of tulip grow in the steppe and meadow zones of the Mountains of Central Asia. The largest of these is the rare, brilliant orange-red Greig's tulip (Tulipa greigii), often known as the king of the tulips, which is only found in western Tien Shan. Collecting for horticulture and decoration has led to the decline of many of the hotspot's tulip species.
In some places you can find wild walnut, pistachio, apricot and apple.The tugai forests found along the Syr Dayra and Amu Darya are unique to the river valleys of Central Asia. They contain a very dense, jungle-like tangle or trees, shrubs and salt-resistant plants and creepers. Most of these forests have been cleared to accommodate cotton farming.
See Kazakhstan, Mongolia
Human Impacts on the Mountains of Central Asia
The Mountains of Central Asia have long been exploited for grazing, food, timber and fuel. The last few decades, a steady rise in human population (there are about 20 million people in the hotspot) and domestic livestock, and the associated need for land and resources, has made human activity unsustainable in many areas. This has been exacerbated over the last 10-15 years by political and economic changes in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Habitat destruction, overgrazing, and unregulated hunting of animals and collection of plants have emerged as the three major and continuing threats in the hotspot, such that only around 20 percent of the original native habitat remains in pristine condition. [Source: Conservation International, Critical Ecosysten Partnership Fund, CEPF,net]
Virtually all of the land in the lowland desert belt and in many foothill areas has been converted to agricultural use. As coal and other fuels have become unavailable and unaffordable, the cutting of trees and shrubs for fuel and building materials has increased. This, together with forest fires, has greatly reduced the area of these habitats, especially in the case of the steppe-shrub communities and the unique and valuable walnut-fruit forests. As an example, between 1995 and 1998, more than 4 500 square kilometers of forest in Kazakhstan were lost due to fires. Expansion of settlements, construction of roads and other infrastructure, recreational facilities, mining and other economic activities have also contributed to habitat destruction and fragmentation.
Many areas have been affected by overgrazing as numbers of domestic livestock throughout the region have increased sharply in recent years. This is particularly the case in the foothills and lower slopes, as well as the alpine and subalpine meadows.
Since the break-up of the former Soviet Union, poaching, especially of larger mammals and birds, has increased sharply. Mountain ungulates are increasingly seen as a source of food, and snow leopard numbers in Kyrgyzstan are estimated to have decreased by 75 percent during the 1990s, as a result of heavy hunting pressure on them and their prey. Falcons are captured and exported to the Middle East, where they fetch a high price from falconers. Unregulated collection of plants also poses a problem to native species; crocuses and tulips have disappeared or become very rare in several areas.
Other threats include the impacts of civil conflict in Tajikistan in the 1990s and the recent war in Afghanistan, as well as the siting of minefields along international borders, which pose a threat to large animals. Damming, reservoir construction and irrigation have disrupted water supplies and drainage systems, and many wetlands have been drained for agriculture. Overfishing and the introduction of alien species further threaten freshwater ecosystems.
Finally, the long-term effects of global warming pose a threat to the environment of the Mountains of Central Asia. It is estimated that glaciers in the area have shrunk by nearly 20 percent in the last 30-35 years, and the long-term destabilizing effects of the melting of frozen upper slopes may lead to the decline or disappearance of many montane taxa in the hotspot.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, CNTO (China National Tourism Administration) David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.
Last updated April 2025