DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETATION AT THE NORTH COAST OF THE SMALL ARAL SEA (KAZAKHSTAN)

The matter of this paper is the analysis of the vegetation distribution at the north coast of the Small Aral Sea. Small Aral Sea is the second north part of the Great Aral Sea (lying primarily on the territory of Kazakhstan). The area of Small Aral Sea, especially coastal ecosystems attract to investigate this area from the site of botany and environmental science. It is interesting to see the vegetation dynamics on former coastline and new developed coastal ecosystems after desiccation of Great Aral Sea. In this paper, we show a part of investigation on dry sea floor at the north coast of Small Aral Sea which was carried out in September 2012. As a result of investigation the next vegetation types were conducted: halophytic-, psammophytic-, tugai- and salt meadow vegetation. The investigated vegetation is presented by species from families Chenopodiaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Poaceae, Polygonaceae. The results show that vegetation distribution on transects is very different and depends on the sedimentological patterns of the dry sea floor and the geomorphological and landscape patterns of the former coast.