Characteristics and utilization of plant diversity and resources in Central Asia

doi:10.1016/j.regsus.2020.08.001

Abstract

Abstract:

The geographical region of Central Asia comprises Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Central Asia’s temperate forests, steppes, and sandy deserts, including riparian tugai forests, have been identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature as Global 200 ecoregions, and the Mountains of Central Asia are considered biodiversity hotspots. Here, we describe and analyze the diverse characteristics and utilization of plant diversity and resources of the region. We confirm that there are 9520 species of higher plants, 20% of which are endemic species, belonging to 138 families and 1176 genera. The vegetation geography of Central Asia can be divided into 5 provinces and 33 districts, and more than 65% species have a Central Asian geographical distribution pattern. Plant resource utilization can be grouped into 5 categories and 31 subcategories, including food, medicine, industry, environmental protection, construction, and plant germplasm. In this review, we also discuss the principal threats to plant biodiversity in Central Asia posed by global climate change and offer recommendations for conservation strategies.

Key words: Flora, Plant resources, Biodiversity, Vegetation types, Central Asia

Yuanming Zhang, Daoyuan Zhang, Wenjun Li, Yaoming Li, Chi Zhang, Kaiyun Guan, Borong Pan. Characteristics and utilization of plant diversity and resources in Central Asia[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2020, 1(1): 1-10.

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Table 1

Table 2

Classification system of plant resources in Central Asia (according to the system by Wu et al. (1983))"

Category	Subcategory	Representative species
Edible plant resources	Starch plants	Ulmus pumila, Agriophyllum squarrosum, Oryza sativa, Triticum petropavlovskyi, and Eremurus inderiensis
	Protein plants	Medicago sativa, Glycyrrhiza inflata, and Sophora alopecuroides
	Edible oils and fats	Juglans regia, Capparis spinosa, Carthamus tinctorius, Eruca sativa, and Brassica napas
	Vitamin plants	Nitraria tangutorum, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Hippophae rhamnoides, Rosa beggeriana, and Rubus idaeus
	Beverage plants	Crataegus songorica, Morus alba, Vitis vinifera, Punica granatum, and Cerasus fruticosa
	Food pigment plants	Daucus carota, Lycopersicon esculentum, Capsicum annuum, Urtica dioica, and Sambucas sibirica
	Spice plants	Cumimum cyminum, Mentha haplocalyx, Artemisia dracunculus, Origanam vulgare, and Carum carvi
	Plant sweeteners	Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Crataegus sanguinea, Vaccinium sp., Beta vulgaris, and Acer plantanoides
	Forage plants	Alhagi sparsifolia, Aristida pennata, Kochia prostrata, Sorghum sudanense, and Carex praecox
	Honey plants	Cirsium setosum, Ziziphora bungeana, Elsholtzia densa, Elaeagnus angustifolia, and Arctium lappa
Medicinal plant resources	Chinese herbal medicine	Astragalus membranaceus, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Cistanche deserticola, Ephedra intermedia, Saussurea involucrata, Fritillaria walujewii, Ferula sinkiangensis, and Adonis amurensis
	Plant pesticides	Anabasis aphylla, Portulaca oleracea, Artemisia annua, Solanum nigrum, and Stellera chamaejasme
	Toxic plants	Astragalus variabilis, Oxytropis glabra, Ceratocephalus testiculatus, telleropsis tianschanica, and Aconitum spp.
Plant resources for industry use	Timber plants	Picea schrenkiana, Pinus sibirica, Populus tomentosa, Abies sibirica, and Populus tremula
	Fibrous plants	Achnatherum splendens, Poacynum hendersonii, Phragmites australis, and Typha ssp.
	Tanning plant	Polygonum bistorta, Epilobium angustifolium, and Limonium gmelinii
	Aromatic plants	Elaeagnus angustifolia, Calligonum mongolicum, Rosa rugosa, Lavandula angustifolia, and Syringa persica
	Industrial oils and fats	Sphaerophysa salsula, Cannabis sativa, Thalictrum simplex, Asparagus offieinalis, and Ricinus communis
	Gum plants	Sesnania cannabina, Astragalus membranaceus, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Amygdalus davidiana, and Armeniaca vulgaris
	Plant dyes for industrial use	Isatis indigotica, Arnebia euchroma, Carthamus tinctorius, Lycium ruthenicum, and Anthemis tinctoria
	Energy plants	Typha latifolia, Haloxylon ammodendron, Tamarix chinensis, Calligonum mongolicum, and Reaumuria soongoarica
	Host plants of economic insects	Fraxinus sodgiana and Brachythe reflexum
	Other resources plants	Betula pendula, Orostachys sp., and Suaeda glauca
Protection/ landscaping plant resources	Windbreak and sand-fixing plants	Calligonum mongolicum, Haloxylon ammodendron, Tamarix chinensis, Inula salsoloides, Kalidium foliatum, Halimodendron halodendron, Nitraria sibirica, and Seriphidium santolinum
	Plants for soil and water conservation	Caragana leucophloea, Tamarix chinensis, and Ammodendron bifolium
	Green manure plants	Sophora alopecuroides, Medicago falcate, Melilotus albus, and Sphaerophysa salsula
	Flower plants	Limonium sinense, Acanthophyllum pungens, Aquilegia viridiflora, Anemone cathayensis, Clematis florida, Iris tectorum, Tulipa gesneriana, and Androsace umbellata
	Indicator plants	Moss and Salsola nitaria
	Anti-polluting plants	Tamarix Chinensis, Juniperus sabina, Hibiscus syriacus, and Punica granatum
Plant germplasm resources	Endemic plants	Salix burqinensis, Betula Halopyila, Atraphaxis jrtyschensis, Polygonum tianxchanicum, Pyrola xinjiangensis, Seseli grubovii, Stenocoelium popovii, Oxytropis przewalskii, Oxytropis bogdoxchanica, Calophaca chinensis, Stellaria divnogorskjae, Calligonum roborovskii, and Zygophyllum kaschgarica
Plant germplasm resources	Germplasm resources of crop variety	Aegilops tauschi, Leymus racemosum, Eremopyrum sp., Learsia oryzoides, Aegopodium podagraria, Lactuca sativa, Lactuca altaica, Lactuca auriculata, Lactuca undulata, Lactuca serriola, Malus sieversii, Juglans regia, Arabidopsis tuemurica, and Arabidopsis qaranica

Table 2

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Country/region	Flora, checklist and Red Data Book	Species count	Reference
Central Asia	Conspectus Florae Asiae Mediae, 1-11	9341	Kovalevskaya (1968-1971), Bondarenko and Nabiev (1972), Pakhomova (1974-1976), Kamelin et al. (1981), Adylov (1983, 1987), Nabiev (1986), Adylov and Zuckerwanik (1993), Khassanov (2015)
	Plant Resources and Utilization in Central Asia	9346	Zhang et al. (2013)
	Checklist of Vascular Plants of Central Asia	9520	Li et al. (unpublished)
Kazakhstan	Flora Kazakhstana, 1-9	5631	Pavlov (1956-1966)
	Checklist of Vascular Plants of Kazakhstan	5658	Abdulina (1999)
	Red Data Book of Kazakhstan, Volume 2: Plant	387	Baitulin (2014)
Kyrgyzstan	Flora Kirgizskoj SSR, 1-11; Supplementary 1-2	3576	Shishkin and Vvedensky (1950-1962)
	Checklist of Vascular Plants of Kyrgyzstan	3927	Lazkov and Sultanova (2014)
	The Red Data Book of the Kyrgyz Republic	87	Shukurov (2006)
Tajikistan	Flora Tadzikskoj SSR, 1-10	4445	Ovchinnikov (1957-1991)
Tajikistan	The Red Data Book of the Republic of Tajikistan Volume 1	267	Rahimi et al. (2017)
Turkmenistan	Flora Turkmenii, 1-7	2607	Fedtschenko et al. (1932-1960)
	Manual of Vascular Plants of Turkmenistan	2800	Nikitin and Geldykhanov (1988)
	Red Data Book of Turkmenistan Volume 1: Plants and Fungi (3^rd ed.)	115	Annabayramov (2011)
Uzbekistan	Flora Uzbekistanica, 1-6	4148	Schreder and Vvedenskyi (1941-1962)
	Flora of Uzbekistan, 1-3	375	Sennikov et al. (2016-2019)
	Red Data Book of Uzbekistan 1: Plants	324	Khassanov and Pratov (2009)
Xinjiang of China	Flora Xinjiangensis, 1-6	3875	Commissione Redactorum Flora Xinjiangensis (1993-2011)