Climate changes and virgin vegetation dynamics in the Northern Caspian lowland

Abstract

A wavy trend toward increasing vegetation biomass in desert, semidesert, and steppe communities growing on solonetzic soils was discovered in the Northern Caspian region over a 60-year observation period (1952–2013). The trend is caused by warming during winter months (due to redistribution of soil moisture) and the improvement of hydrothermal conditions in spring months (the period of most active plant vegetation).