Foothill, mountain and highland plants; the animal world

Adyrs are a transitional zone between desert and mountains, foothill ridges from about 500–700 to 1200–1600 m above sea level. They have many plants that develop quickly in spring, such as sedge (rang) and bluegrass (qo‘ng‘irbosh), plus wheat-grass and red wormwood, and shrubs like pistachio and almond on stony places. The mountain belt runs from about 1200–1500 to 2800–3000 m; it is cooler than the adyr (the July mean does not exceed 17–19°C) and wetter (600–800 mm, in places up to 1000 mm of precipitation). The lower part has mountain-steppe grasses and rose-hip thickets, higher up are forests of juniper, maple, walnut, wild apple and cherry; in the northern Tien Shan at 2000–2800 m there are coniferous spruce forests. Places above about 2700–2800 m are occupied by highland pastures, subalpine and alpine meadows, where summer is short and cool, winter cold and snowy, and the grasses are low but their flowers are colourful.