Biogeocenotic Principles of Pasture Restoration in the Central Asian Desert

The increasing anthropogenic and technogenic impact on the soil and vegetation cover and water resources of Central Asia has sharply accelerated the degradation and desertification of natural pastures in this region, which was accompanied by a deterioration in the fodder base for animal husbandry, and, as a result, in the quality of life of the population. The theoretical substantiation of methods for economically profitable ecological restoration of lost biodiversity and forage productivity of desertified lands is an important scientific task. To solve it, the authors propose to use approaches based on biogeocenotic principles of the formation of multispecies multilevel pasture biogeocenoses, recreating optimal florocenotic structures by introducing zonal basic dominant species and life forms of forage plants into their composition. Such reconstructed biogeocenoses have the property of self-renewal and self-maintenance of the natural structural and functional organization. They are also of great nature conservation value because they contribute to the suspension of the desertification of arid pasture lands, the cessation of dust storms, and the restoration of optimal environmental parameters.