Soils, plants, animals and nature protection

Soils, plants and animals are placed according to relief and climate. K. Z. Zokirov distinguished four belts: desert, adir, mountain and yaylov (high pasture). The desert belt covers about 70 percent of Uzbekistan; its soils are grey-brown, sandy desert, takyr, saline and grey soils, with very little humus (about 0.3–1 percent). In spring ephemerals such as tulips and early-flowering bulbs grow in the desert and dry up in summer, while drought-resistant plants such as saxaul, calligonum and cherkez remain. Desert animals are sand-coloured and many are active at night: goitred gazelle, ground squirrel, jerboa, monitor lizard, snakes. The adir belt lies at roughly 400–500 to 1000–1200 m; with 1.5–4 percent humus in grey soils it is more fertile than the desert. In the mountain belt (roughly 1000–1200 to 2700–2800 m) humus reaches 4–6 percent and at 1400–2500 m there are juniper, walnut and poplar forests. The yaylov belt lies above 2700–2800 m and consists of subalpine and alpine meadows where argali, ibex, snow leopard and marmot live.