Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Digital Phytoindication of Soil Salinity in Dry Steppes (Republic of Kalmykia)

  • SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF ARID TERRITORIES
  • Published:
Arid Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Soil and geobotanical studies were carried out in a landscape district within the Northern Sarpa lowland of the Caspian Depression in a zone of light-chestnut soil. The collected data made it possible to assess the variation of soil-salinity values typical for dry-steppe plant species and communities in the Republic of Kalmykia and to produce digital models for a geobotanical indication of soil salinity. Geobotanical plots, soil test pits, and boreholes up to 2 m deep were established along a 64-m transect at 1 m intervals. The pNa salinity index was measured in aqueous suspensions of soil samples (1 : 5). As a result, it became possible to determine the salinity at depths of 0–30, 0–50, and 0–100 cm for 12 plant species and 7 plant communities registered on the transect and to distinguish three plant groups based on their tolerance to soil salinity. The first group includes species confined to nonsaline soils (salt concentrations vary within a narrow range). Plants belonging to the second group tolerate a broad range of salinity values and prefer nonsaline soils. The third group consists of salt loving species (halophytes) confined to saline and highly saline soils. Of the seven plant communities registered on the transect, two occur on nonsaline (down to a depth of 2 m) soils (Stipa lessingiana + Festuca valesiaca + Artemisia lerchiana and Stipa lessingiana + Festuca valesiaca + Tanacetum achilleifolium); two others tend to occur in soils that are not saline to a depth of 50 cm (Festuca valesiaca + Artemisia lerchiana + Tanacetum achilleifolium and Artemisia lerchiana + Tanacetum achilleifolium + Artemisia pauciflora); and three communities occur only on soils that are saline from a depth of  25–50 cm (Kochia prostrata + Artemisia pauciflora, Artemisia pauciflora, and Poa bulbosa + Anabasis aphylla). The Classification and Regression Tree (CART) method makes it possible to predict the soil salinity based on the occurrence of plant species identified as predictors. The prediction accuracy is 80% for the 0- to 30-cm layer, 81% for the 0- to 50-cm layer, and 64% for the 0- to 100-cm layer. The following plants have been identified as important (rank > 60) predictors: Kochia prostrata, Tanacetum achilleifolium, Artemisia austriaca, and Festuca valesiaca. Other species feature low prediction importance (validity) values and therefore cannot be used as predictors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. † Deceased.

REFERENCES

  1. Breiman, L., Friedman, J., Olshen, R., and Stone, C., Classification and Regression Trees, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bui, E.N. and Henderson, B.L., Vegetation indicators of salinity in northern Queensland, Aust. Ecol., 2003, vol. 28, pp. 539–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Czerepanov, S.K., Vascular Plants of Russia and Adjacent States (the Former USSR), Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Dimo, N.A. and Keller, B.A., V oblasti polupustyni. Pochvennye i botanicheskie issledovaniya na yuge Tsaritsynskogo uezda Saratovskoi oblasti (Semidesert Region. Soil and Botanical Studies at the South of Tsaritsynskii Uezd of Saratov Province), Saratov: Izd. Saratov. Gubernskogo Zemstva, 1907.

  5. Doskach, A.G., Prirodnoe raionirovanie Prikaspiiskoi polupustyni (Natural Zonation of the Caspian Semidesert), Moscow: Nauka, 1979.

  6. Fedorov, B.V., Opredelenie stepeni osoloneniya pochv po rastitel’nomu pokrovu (Determination of Soil Salinization Degree by Vegetation Cover), Tashkent: Golodnostepskaya S-kh. Opytnaya Stn., 1930, no. 10.

  7. Fireman, M. and Hayward, H.E., Indicator significance of some shrubs in the Escalante desert, Utah, Bot. Gaz., 1952, vol. 114, no. 2, pp. 143–155.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Karadağ, S., Eren, E., Çetinkaya, E., Özen, S., and Deveci, S., Optimization of sodium extraction from soil by using a central composite design (CCD) and determination of soil sodium content by ion selective electrodes, Eurasian J. Soil Sci., 2016, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 89–96.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Keller, B.A., Botanical-geographic studies in Zaisanskii uezd of Semipalatinsk oblst, Part 1: Vegetation of Kaldzhir valley, in Trudy pochvenno-botanicheskoi ekspeditsii po issledovaniyu kolonozatsionnykh raionov Aziatskoi Rossii (Transactions of Soil-Botanical Expedition for Study of Colonized Regions of Asian Russia), St. Petersburg, 1912.

  10. Khitrov, N.B., Rukhovich, D.I., Kalinina, N.V., Novikova, A.F., Pankova, E.I., and Chernousenko, G.I., Elektronnaya versiya karty zasoleniya pochv masshtaba 1 : 2.5 mln. (Electronic Map of Soil Salinization, Scale 1 : 2 500 000), Moscow: Pochv. Inst. im. V.V. Dokuchaeva, 2003.

  11. Larin, I.V., Rastitel’nost’, pochvy i sel’skokhozyaistvennaya otsenka Chizhinskikh razlivov (Vegetation, Soils, and Agricultural Assessment of Chizhinskie Razlivy), Leningrad, 1926.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Larin, I.V., Analysis based on the vegetation cover of soils, maternal rocks, relief, agricultural lands, and other landscape elements in the middle part of the Ural province, Tr. O-va Izuch. Kazakh., Otd. Estestvozn. Geogr., 1929, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1–44.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Lavrenko, E.M., Steppes, in Rastitel’nost’ Evropeiskoi chasti SSSR (Vegetation of the European Part of USSR), Leningrad: Nauka, 2000, pp. 203–272.

  14. Leont’ev, V.L., Plants suitable for anchoring of the banks and dams of the main Turkmen channel, Bot. Zh., 1952, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 334–341.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Levina, F.Ya., Microcomplexes of the area of drying up rivers of the Volga-Ural interfluve: the structure and development, in Voprosy uluchsheniya kormovoi bazy v stepnykh, polupustynnykh i pustynnykh zonakh SSSR (Improvement of Food Reserves in Steppe, Semidesert, and Desert Zones of USSR), Moscow: Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1954, pp. 191–209.

  16. Novikova, N.M., Konyushkova, M.V., and Ulanova, S.S., Ecological intercomponent relationships in the natural solonetzic soil complex of the Northern Sarpinskaya Plain (Kalmykia Republic), Arid Ecosyst., 2017, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 224–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Orlov, D.S., Ion activities and dissociation of cation-containing components of the soil absorbing complex, in Problemy diagnostiki i melioratsii solontsov (Diagnostics and Melioration of Solonchaks), Martynenko, G.N., Ed., Novocherkassk: Novocherk. Inzh.-Melior. Inst., 1980, pp. 27–36.

  18. Piernik, A., Inland halophilous vegetation as indicator of soil salinity, Basic Appl. Ecol., 2003, vol. 4, pp. 525–536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Prescott, J.A., The Soils of Australia in Relation to Vegetation and Climate, Bull. Counc. Sci. Ind. Res. Aust. no. 52, Melbourne: Counc. Sci. Ind. Res., 1931.

  20. Ramenskii, L.G., Vvedenie v kompleksnoe pochvenno-geobotanicheskoe obsledovanie zemel’ (Introduction into Complex Soil-Geobotanical Analysis of Soils), Moscow: Sel’khozgiz, 1938.

  21. Ramenskii, L.G., Classification of lands according by their vegetation cover, Probl. Bot., 1950, no. 1, pp. 484–512.

  22. Safronova, I.N., Phytocenotic diversity of decertified steppes of Black Sea-Kazakhstan subregion of Eurasian steppe region, in Geobotanicheskoe kartografirovanie 2001–2002 (Geobotanical Cartography, 2001–2002), St. Petersburg: Bot. Inst., Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2002, pp. 44–65.

  23. Skerman, P.J., Use of vegetation in locating solonetz soils in Queensland, Queensl. J. Agric. Sci., 1948, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 17–22.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Tumin, G.M., Soils of southern part of Atbasarskii uezd of Akmolinskaya oblast, in Trudy pochvenno-botanicheskoi ekspeditsii po issledovaniyu kolonozatsionnykh raionov Aziatskoi Rossii (Transactions of Soil-Botanical Expedition for Study of Colonized Regions of Asian Russia), St. Petersburg: Tipogr. Yu.N. Erlikh, 1910.

  25. Viktorov, S.V., Vostokova, E.A., and Vyshivkin, D.D., Vvedenie v indikatsionnuyu geobotaniku (Introduction into Indicative Geobotany), Moscow: Mosk. Gos. Univ., 1962.

  26. Vinogradov, B.V., Rastiel’nye indikatory i ikh ispol’zovanie pri izuchenii prirodnykh resursov (Vegetative Indicators and Their Use for Analysis of Natural Resources), Moscow: Vysshaya Shkola, 1964.

  27. Volkova, N.A., Geoecological characteristics of natural-territorial complexes of modern hydromorphism (by the example of the southeastern branch of the Donetsk Ridge), Cand. Sci. (Geogr.) Dissertation, Moscow, 2005.

  28. Wierda, A., Fresco, L.F.M., Grootjans, A.P., and van Diggelen, R., Numerical assessment of plant species as indicators of the groundwater regime, J. Veg. Sci., 1997, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 707–716.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Zasolennye pochvy Rossii (Saline Soils of Russia), Moscow: Akademkniga, 2006.

  30. Zhudova, P.P., The data on plant-indicators of soil and forest conditions, Vestn. Mosk. Univ., Ser.: Fiz.-Matem. Estestv. Nauk, 1955, no. 2, pp. 119–122.

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to S.S. Ulanova, I.N. Semenkov, A.A. Kontoboytseva, Yixing Feng, N.M. Tserenov, and U.Yu. Ulyumdzhiev for their assistance in this study, as well as our late, lamented leader and member of the research team Aleksandra Fedorovna NovikovaFootnote 1†, a prominent soil scientist and expert in solonetz soils, and a member of the research team, Marina Borisovna Shadrina†, a famous geobotanist and specialist in arid areas.

Funding

This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 17-55-560 006 (Soil Cover of Marine Plains in the Caspian Region: Primary Differentiation and Evolution), and performed as part of the State Assignment of the Water Problems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Section 2.6 (Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Under Changing Environmental Conditions), theme no. 0147-2018-0002 (Modeling and Forecast of Water Quality and Ecosystem-Restoration Processes for Various Scenarios of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Activity); State Registration no. AAAA-A18-118022090104-8.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    K. O. Prokopyeva, M. V. Konyushkova & I. V. Sobolev

  2. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    K. O. Prokopyeva & M. V. Konyushkova

  3. Water Problems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119333, Moscow, Russia

    N. M. Novikova

Authors
  1. K. O. Prokopyeva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. V. Konyushkova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. N. M. Novikova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. I. V. Sobolev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to K. O. Prokopyeva, M. V. Konyushkova or N. M. Novikova.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Statement on the welfare of humans or animals. This article does not contain any studies involving animals performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Translated by L. Emeliyanov

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Prokopyeva, K.O., Konyushkova, M.V., Novikova, N.M. et al. Digital Phytoindication of Soil Salinity in Dry Steppes (Republic of Kalmykia). Arid Ecosyst 11, 173–185 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S207909612102013X

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S207909612102013X

Keywords:

Search

Navigation