Session

In Uzbekistan, where rangelands make up around 57% of the nation's total area or over 21 million hectares, grazing is a significant land use. Arid and semi-arid plains are associated with around 78% of those rangelands. For many years, indigenous animal husbandry has used these regions. Year-round unsustainable grazing close to populated areas has resulted in overgrazing and trampling, which has degraded rangelands and reduced biodiversity. Considering the importance of the soil seed banks (SSBs) in the self-restoration of those degraded rangeland ecosystems, assessing the restoration potential of the soil seed bank is crucial. Until now, research on SSBs has not been conducted yet in Uzbekistan. Our study aims to assess the regeneration potential of the rangelands by evaluating SSB density and species composition and comparing it with existing vegetation in Southern Kyzylkum desert rangelands to learn the importance of the seed bank resources in the soil and their interaction with aboveground vegetation. We evaluate the vegetation and the seed bank along a grazing intensity gradient starting from the severely overgrazed areas near watering wells towards the moderately grazed distant areas. There were 20 study sites which were distinguished into two categories: abandoned and functioning watering wells (WWs). We chose four different gradient zones in each site by moving away from the WWs to assess the SSBs and existing vegetation: WW – at the sacrificed zone at the watering point; WW + 500 m; WW + 1000 m; WW + 2000 m. Each zone included two transects and three plots (5x5 m) were in a transect (in total 480 plots). Three soil samples (in total 1 500 kg soil) were taken from each plot and existing dung numbers were counted in every corner of the plot. The soil samples have been concentrated by 0.25 mm sieves and their germination will be started in August 2024 for SSB analysis. The preliminary results of the vegetation survey showed that Peganum harmala was a dominant species of the sacrificed zone of all sites, which indicates the degraded rangelands. With increasing distance from the WW, the vegetation communities became increasingly species-rich, with species Artemisia diffusa, Carex physoides, C. pachystylis in the best quality rangelands grazed by low intensity.