Bioecological Characteristics of the Flora of the Territories Adjacent to the Springs of Western Kazakhstan

The data of floristic studies of 40 spring tracts of the Mangistau, Aktobe, Atyrau and West Kazakhstan regions of the Western Region of the Republic of Kazakhstan are presented. We have found that the studied flora is represented by 252 species, 167 genera and 55 families belonging to Equisetophyta, Pinophyta, and Magnoliophyta divisions. Taxonomic characterization of the flora showing the predominance of the Asteraceae and Poaceae families is provided. The predominance of perennial herbaceous plants in the flora of spring tracts was identified by the system of I. G. Serebryakov’s life forms. The predominance of steppe plants and weeds was revealed. Horological analysis showed the leading set of species with the Eurasian range type. Ecological characteristics highlighted the predominance of xerophytes and mesotrophic plants. 20 protected plant species listed in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation and the Red Data Book of the Republic of Kazakhstan were identified. Analysis of the distribution of plants in the areas adjacent to the springs identified four grades of occurrence, namely: common species – 7; uncommon species – 17; rare species – 100; and very rare species – 128. The most common species found within the spring tract territories are related to weeds, such as Tripleurospermum perforatum (Merat) M. Lainz, Polygonum aviculare L., Taraxacum officinale Wigg., Lappula squarrosa (Retz.) Dumort., Plantago major L., Arctium lappa L., Xanthium strumarium L., Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik., Chenopodium album L., Convulvus arvensis L., Poa annua L., Bromus squarrosus L., Elytrigia repens (L.) Nevski. The Jaccard index (Kj) for the analyzed floras in pairwise comparison varies from 0.02 to 0.5, which shows the extreme heterogeneity of the specific composition.


INTRODUCTION
There are about 200 springs in Western Kazakhstan (Akhmedenov, 2015). Springs in the steppe zones are very important sources of water supply for small settlements; they also determine the recreational potential and floral diversity of the territory. The flora of the territories adjacent to the spring outlets is influenced by various factors including the location of the spring, the distance from roads and settlements, the physical and chemical composition of water, etc.
Extreme environmental conditions of Western Kazakhstan result in high endemism of flora. In addition, the study area is subject to anthropogenic impact and, as a result, there is a problem of conservation of species biodiversity (Mamysheva, Darbaeva, 2012). Many spring tracts are a place of recreation for the local population; this fact naturally affects the flora and vegetation. Currently, the features of recreational changes in flora and plant communities and their components are increasingly attracting the attention of researchers (Davidenko, 2016).
Floristic composition serves as an indirect indicator of the state of the spring tract and the degree of its disturbance (Sivohip, Kalmykova, 2007). Some springs become the centers of unique plant communities where rare species of plants grow (Zhantasova, Akhmedenov, 2012;Idrisova et al., 2018). The quality of the environment can be judged by the state of rare species. Indeed, rare species of flora constitute the most fragile component of biodiversity and serve as a good indicator of any changes in such ecological parameter. West Kazakhstan region has a unique set of landscape complexes (Myrzagalieva, Stanis, 2016). Springs play a leading role in the process of maintaining the stability of the surrounding terrestrial biocenoses, as well as in the formation of natural landscapes.
Some springs contain highly mineralized water and therapeutic mud. As a result, these tracts become involved in unorganized balneological activities that affect not only the flora but also the mineral mud resources. Unregulated utilization and absence of restoration measures will bring such mineral mud resources to extinction (in fact, such thing already happened in Sol-Iletsk). Big spring tracts, such as Ashchytuzbulak, Tilepbulak, and Tuzdybulak are visited by up to 100 people per day (Akhmedenov et al., 2017). These areas are home to rare petrophytes (e.g., Eremurus inderiensis (Stev.) Regel, Ixiolirion tataricum (Pall.) Schult. & Schult. fil., Leontice incerta Pall, etc.) that undergo extreme anthropogenic pressure.
Foreign spring studies also show the importance of conservation of spring tracts, as they provide habitat for endemic species (Rosenau et al., 1977;Fensham, Fairfax, 2003). For example, Fensham (1998) who studied springs in the Dawson river valley, Queensland, confirms the presence of rare and isolated plant communities in the coastal area of springs, and therefore the vulnerability of rare plant species and their importance.
Many springs have unusual geomorphological features and contain rare species of flora, endemic invertebrates and fish (Ponder, 2002). Due to their ecological simplicity, they have significant potential for evolutionary and ecological research. Over the past hundred years, many springs have disappeared, and most of the remaining ones are threatened with degradation.
In this regard, the study of the flora of the territories adjacent to the springs located in Western Kazakhstan is undoubtedly relevant, so this study was devoted to this topic.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
During the field seasons of 2015-2017, we studied the flora of 40 spring tracts of Mangistau, Aktobe, Atyrau and West Kazakhstan regions of the Western Region of the Republic of Kazakhstan and collected about 1000 herbarium sheets.
The study of flora was carried out via the route method. We studied the vascular plants growing within the areas of spring tracts (400 m 2 ). Collection and drying of herbarium samples were carried out according to the standard method (Skvortsov, 1977).
The species identification for collected plants was carried out according to the following keys: Catalogue of plants of the West Kazakhstan region (Darbaeva, Chukalina, 2011); flora of the middle zone of the European part of the USSR (Mayevsky, 1964(Mayevsky, , 2006. Species names are given according to the summary of S. K. Cherepanov (1995). In the course of the analysis, the plants were distributed by geographical longitude groups in accordance with the works of A. I. Tolmachev (1974Tolmachev ( , 1986 and T. I. Plaksina (2001). Identification of plant life forms was performed in accordance with systems proposed by C. Raunkiaer (1934) and I. G. Serebryakov (1962Serebryakov ( , 1964. Cenomorphic composition of the flora was determined in accordance with recommendations of N. M. Matveev (2006

RESULTS
The flora of the territories adjacent to 40 springs within the boundaries of four regions of Western Kazakhstan is represented by 252 species, 167 genera, and 55 families. The flora is represented by three divisions -Equisetophyta, Pinophyta, and Magnoliophyta. The Equisetophyta division is represented by 4 species (Equisetum arvense L., E. fluviatile L., E. pratense Ehrh., E. sylvaticum L.), while Pinophyta division is represented by a single species (Ephedra distachya L.). Most of the plant species (247) belong to the Magnoliophyta division with 58 species of 36 genera and 11 families belonging to Liliopsida class species, and 189 species of 136 genera and 43 families belonging to Magnoliopsida class. Thus, in the number of species, genera and families, the Magnoliopsida class dominates over Liliopsida class.
The Asteraceae and Poaceae families predominate in the number of presented species (Table 1).
Among the other families, the largest number of species belong to Rosaceae, Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Liliaceae, Polygonaceae, Brassicaceae, and Scrophulariaceae families. The species of these families include wild species of fruit and berry plants (Rosaceae family) that are mesophytes of moist habitats. The following xerophytic species (of Chenopodiaceae, Fabaceae, Scrophulariaceae and Brassicaceae families) and ephemeroids (Liliaceae family) characteristic of this climatic zone have been noted: Rhinopetalum karelinii Fisch. Ex D. Don, Tulipa gesneriana L., T. greigii Regel, T. biebersteiniana Schult. & Schult. fil.) common for steppe landscapes where the studied spring tracts are located; we also found hygrophytes of the Polygonaceae family (Rumex confertus Willd., R. crispus L. Persicaria amphibian (L.) S. F. Gray, P. hydropiper (L.) Spach, Bistorta major S. F. Gray). ПОВОЛЖСКИЙ ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ЖУРНАЛ № 4 2019 The remaining families are arranged in the following order: 6 species of the studied flora belong to Caryophyllaceae family, while 5 species belong to Salicaceae family. Three families -Apiaceae, Equisetaceae and Cyperaceae -are represented by 4 species. The Geraniaceae, Ranunculaceae, Boraginaceae and Typhaceae families are represented by 3 species. Families represented by one or two species make up 20.2% of the total number of species. Species saturation index of the studied flora families equals 4.5.
The studied flora includes 172 genera. The most prominent is Artemisia genera represented by 12 species. The second place is occupied by two genera, Equisetum and Poa, each represented by 4 species. There are 14 genera represented by 3 species (Bromopsis, Typha, Stipa, Agropyron, Tulipa, Salix, Rumex, Persicaria, Atriplex, Chenopodium, Potentilla, Achillea, Centaurea, Tanacetum); 90% of (the total number of) genera include 1-2 species, in 76% of cases one genus contains one species. Species saturation index for genera equals 1.5.
The biomorphological structure of flora is represented by life forms (LF) that adapt very well to environmental conditions and serve as units of ecological classification of plants. According to the system proposed by I. G. Serebryakov (1964), the studied species are represented by 10 LF -trees, shrubs, half-shrubs, dwarf shrubs, dwarf halfshrubs, perennial-biennial-annual grasses and annual or biennial grasses ( Table 2).
The shrub group (20 species Using C. Raunkiaer (1934) system to study vascular plant life forms present in the flora, we identified 6 life forms ( Species of the studied flora belong to six main phytocenotic groups and to 19 cenomorphs (Table 4).
The largest number of species (73) belongs to the group of steppe plants. Another numerous group is the weed group of plants that includes 54 weed, meadow weed, forest weed, and edge weed species, indicating of an anthropogenic impact on the composition of the flora.
Forest (47 species) and aquatic (34 species) groups of plants that require sufficient moisture conditions, typical for territories adjacent to the springs, have a significant share within the flora composition. Aquatic group is represented by 24 coastal aquatic species, 4 marsh coast species and 6 meadow coast species. The flora contains meadow species (27), including a group of meadow coast plants that is a characteristic feature for the flora of the spring tracts. A total of 17 species belong to the arid group.
The chorological analysis allows establishing correlations between geographical elements of the composition of flora and species with the same spread (range) (Sinitsyna, 2013). The horological analysis revealed the heterogeneity of flora and identified 12 geographical longitudinal groups (Table 5).  The majority of identified species belong to Eurasian range group (57.94% of the total number of species) represented by Poaceae, Liliaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Rosaceae, and Fabaceae families. Species with Holarctic range group (15.87%) from Poaceae, Polygonaceae, and Salicaceae families are also dominant, which is natural, since the West Kazakhstan Region is located within the territory of the Holarctic Region (Takhtadzhyan, 1978). The third most frequent group is taken by the pluriregional geographical longitude group (7.14%) formed by species from Poaceae, Asteraceae and Urticaceae families. The Asian (6.35%), Euro-Siberian (5.16%) and European (3.17%) geographical groups are represented less. The smallest number of species belongs to the Eastern European, American, East European and Asian groups that range from 1.19 to 0.79%. Mediterranean, Ancient Mediterranean and European American groups are represented by a single species (0.40% each species). Species of the studied flora can be attributed to 9 ecological groups if we take into account the water availability parameter (Table 6).
Xerophyte are the primary species (27.38%) for arid zones. They are followed by mesophytes (21.03%) and xeromesophytes (20.24%) which is also understandable as the plants grow close to the springs. Intermediate groups -mesohygrophytes (9.92%) and mesoxerophyte (7.14) -are located at the boundaries of hygromorphic range. The hygrophytic group is diverse: it contains hygrophytes (5.56%), ultrahygrophytes (4.37%), hygrohydrophytes (2.38%) and hygromesophyte (1.98%). According to nutrient status and salt conditions of soils and subsoils, the plants of the studied flora can be attributed to 7 ecological groups ( Table 7).
The dominant role of mesotrophic (50.79%) and megatrophic (27.38%) species in the structure of spring flora testifies to the predominance of soils and subsoils with sufficient and excessive amount of nutrients in the studied territory. 12.70% of plants are oligotrophic; these species are representatives of semi-arid and arid zones. The presence of a halophytic group (8.73%) in the studied flora indicates the presence of alkali soils and salt marshes. One parasitic plant -Orobanche coerulescens Steph -was found.
We also found 20 rare species of plants listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation (2008) and the Red book of Kazakhstan (2006) on the territory of 12 springs (Idrisova et al., 2018).  According to analysis of species distribution in the flora of the territories adjacent to the springs of Western Kazakhstan, we classified all species into four types based on their grade of occurrence, namely: common, uncommon, rare and very rare plants.
The most common are 7 species of plants: Tripleurospermum perforatum (Merat) M. Lainz, Polygonum aviculare L., Taraxacum officinale Wigg., Lappula squarrosa (Retz.) Dumort., Plantago major L., Trifolium pratense L., Plantago lanceolata L. These species mainly belong to weeds (with the exception of the last two, that are meadow and meadow-steppe species, respectively) and have been found within the territories of 8 to 11 springs; these species constitute 2.8% of the total flora.
The (semi-arid species). These plants can be found on the territory of 5 to 7 springs, and account for 6.7% of all species of flora. 100 species, accounting for 39.7% of the total amount, can be considered rare and have found within the territory of 2 to 4 springs. Half of the species (50.8%; 128 plants) were represented by single specimens (very rare) and were found on the territory of only one of the springs.
The studied floras were compared using the Jaccard index (Kj). The similarity matrices obtained via the ExStatR software were used in cluster analysis as a basis for constructing dendrograms of the similarity of the studied floras via UPGMA technique.
For the analyzed floras in pair wise comparison, Kj varies from 0.02 to 0.5. Cluster analysis has identified several groups (Figure). A separate cluster represents the spring no. 16 -Karauylkeldy, where we found three unique species that were not found at the territories of any of the other springs.

CONCLUSION
The flora of the territories adjacent to the spring outlets is represented by 252 species, 167 genera and 55 families belonging to Equisetophyta, Pinophyta and Magnoliophyta families. The Asteraceae and Poaceae families are dominant. There are 20 rare and protected species of plants listed in the Red Books of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan. The basis of the flora of spring tracts is perennial herbaceous plants (154 species), including long-rooted, rod-rooted and short-rooted grasses. There are 4 main types of geoelements -Eurasian, Holarctic and pluriregional. According to ecological analysis of the flora, 1) the largest number of species (73) among cenomorphs belong to 2 groups -steppe plants and weeds; 2) xerophytes, mesophytes and xeromesophytes are dominant hydromorphic types; 3) based on the soil nutrient status, the majority of species are mesotrophic. The flora of the territories contain representatives of halophytic, -psammophyte and calciphilous groups. Of the flora, 7 species are common, 17 are uncommon, 100 are rare and 128 are very rare. For the analyzed floras in pairwise comparison, Kj varies from 0.02 to 0.5. Cluster analysis confirmed the extreme heterogeneity of species composition and low degree of similarity of flora.