干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The South-East Altai is the northern outpost of arid regions of Central Asia. It encompasses the Chuya depression (1800-2100 m), surrounding mountain ranges (2800-4000 m), mountain plateaus (2900-3200 m) and highland depressions (22002400 m). Eight types of altitudinal plant communities create the base of the plant cover pattern; each has its own specific set of active species. The altitudinal belt series is shown to include two belts: the steppe (1800-2400 m) and alpine belts (2400-2800 m). The belts are composed of lower and upper subbelts. The upper steppe subbelt has two variants, corresponding to relief peculiarities; two variants of the lower alpine subbelt are limited geographically.