Search

Revealed by morphological characters, physiological status, and genetic diversity of populations of the main plague host Rhombomys opimus Licht., 1823 in Central Asia desert natural focus is described.Differences in the skull parameters of R. opimus from different populations were revealed. It’s shown that gerbils from Moyunkum are separate autonomous populations group. Samples from Moyunkum and Mangyshlak differed from other samples. In Balkhash-Alakol depression found two regional complexes: Pre-Balkhash and Dzungarian.Study results of free amino acids level in R. opimus blood serum obtained by gas-liquid chromatography of blood sera from animals captured in different zones of Central Asian focus gave statistically significant differences. To determine genetic variability in ecological and geographical isolation of R. opimus populations the DNA was genotyped.DNA samples analysis combined the studied gerbil from the desert focus into four clusters with eighteen haplotypes. R. opimus sequence analysis taking into account data from territories of Iran, Kazakhstan and China, clustered into three large clusters. First cluster combined the sequences of Kazakhstan and China samples, while great gerbil captured in Kazakhstan is located in a separate treasure. Second and third clusters include sequences of a great gerbil captured in Iran.

Common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. Ex Steud.) is a highly productive wetland plant and a potentially valuable source of renewable biomass worldwide. There is more than 10 million ha of reed area globally, distributed mainly across Eurasia followed by America and Africa. The literature analysis in this paper revealed that Kazakhstan alone harbored ca. 1,600,000–3,000,000 ha of reed area, mostly distributed in the deltas and along the rivers of the country. Herein, we explored the total reed biomass stock of 17 million t year−1 which is potentially available for harvesting in the context of wise use of wetlands. The aim of this paper is to reveal the distribution of reed resource potential in wetland areas of 13 provinces of Kazakhstan and the prospects for its sustainable utilization. Reed can be used as feedstock as an energy source for the production of pellets and biofuels, as lignocellulosic biomass for the production of high strength fibers for novel construction and packaging materials, and innovative polymers for lightweight engineering plastics and adhesive coatings. Thereby, it is unlikely that reed competes for land that otherwise is used for food production.

In the published article [...]

Although agriculture and aquaculture depend on access to increasingly scarce, shared water resources to produce food for human consumption, they are most often considered in isolation. We argue that they should be treated as integrated components of a single complex system that is prone to direct or indirect tradeoffs that should be avoided while also being amenable to synergies that should be sought. Direct tradeoffs such as competition for space or the pollution of shared water resources usually occur when the footprints of agriculture and aquaculture overlap or when the two practices coexist in close proximity to one another. Interactions can be modulated by factors such as hydropower infrastructure and short-term economic incentives, both of which are known to disrupt the balance between aquaculture and agriculture. Indirect tradeoffs, on the other hand, play out across distances, i.e., when agricultural food sources are diverted to feed animals in aquaculture. Synergies are associated with the culture of aquatic organisms in rice paddies and irrigation waters, seasonal rotations of crop cultivation with aquaculture, and various forms of integrated agriculture–aquaculture (IAA), including jitang, a highly developed variant of pond-dike IAA. Policy decisions, socioeconomic considerations, and technology warrant increased scrutiny as determinants of tradeoffs and synergies. Priority issues for the future include guiding the expansion of aquaculture from its traditional base in Asia, taking advantage of the heterogeneity that exists within both agricultural and aquaculture systems, the development of additional metrics of tradeoffs and synergies, and adapting to the effects of climate change.

Water is a scarce resource in Central Asia, and many catchments span international boundaries, among them that of the Ili River, which is shared by China and Kazakhstan. Since 1970, the natural hydrological regime of the Ili River, both absolute flow rates and cycles, has changed due to construction of reservoirs such as that at Kapchagai, as well as natural climatic cycles and the growth of water consumption in the basin. Using data from Kazhydromet, we calculated that flow rates below Kapchagai dam averaged 468 m3/sec before construction of the dam, 366 m3/sec while the reservoir was being filled, and 489 m3/sec between 1988 and 2013. The dam has profoundly altered the annual cycle of flows in the river, with reductions in the summer and increases in the winter, when water is released to produce hydropower. The effects of these changes are being heightened by China’s increasing diversion of the river’s water. The sustainable use of decreasing water resources to conserve the biodiversity of the Ili-Balkhash basin’s ecosystems mandates a solution to the water allocation challenge between China and Kazakhstan. This will require a basin-wide approach that includes modernization of water distribution systems and careful consideration to relative priority needs for food, hydropower, and communal uses in both countries.

The Ili River originates in the mountains of Xinjiang, China, and flows across an increasingly arid landscape before terminating in Kazakhstan’s Lake Balkhash, which has no outlet to the ocean. The river has been extensively impounded and diverted over the past half century to produce hydroelectric power and food on irrigated land. Water withdrawals are increasing to the extent that they are beginning to threaten the ecosystem, just as it is becoming stressed by altered inflows as glaciers retreat and disappear. If the Ili River ecosystem is to be preserved, it is crucial that we thoroughly understand the spatial and temporal nuances of the interrelationships between water, energy, and food—and the vulnerability of these components to climate change. The ecosystem has all of the characteristics of a classically-defined “wicked problem”, and so it warrants treatment as a complex and dynamic challenge subject to changing assumptions, unexpected consequences, and strong social and economic overtones. Research should thus focus not just on new knowledge about the water, energy, or food component, but on advancing our understanding of the ecosystem as a whole. This will require the participation of interdisciplinary teams of researchers with both tacit and specialized knowledge.

Lake Balkhash is the largest water body in Central Asia. More than three-quarters of its inflow comes from the Ili River, which is under increasing strain due to the diversion of water for energy and food production. Commercial fishing in Lake Balkhash began in 1929 and is currently in a state of crisis. The construction of the Balkhash dam and reservoir in the late 1960s reduced Ili River flows into the lake and upset the natural cycle of spring floods, which greatly reduced spawning and feeding areas for carp (Cyprinus carpio). Carp populations were consequently reduced by more than 90% during the filling of the reservoir and have not recovered, even though the lake’s level subsequently rose. Catches of carp and freshwater bream (Abramis brama orientalis) have shown an inverse relationship since the 1960s, and the age structure of freshwater bream is changing. Historically, most captured fish of this species were 4- to 7-years-old, but smaller, 3- to 5-year-old fish have dominated recent catches. The total fish harvest from Lake Balkhash is currently at near historical lows, not just because of environmental factors, but also because of structural changes triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Poaching, government disinterest, lack of enforcement of fishing regulations, and the economic challenges faced by today’s small fishing enterprises all contribute to the problem.

Following the desiccation of the Aral Sea, Lake Balkhash has become the largest lake of Central Asia with an area of 17,000 km 2 . 70%–80% of the annual inflow into Lake Balkhash is delivered by the Ile River. The Ile Delta, 8000 km 2 large, is the largest natural delta and wetland complex of Central Asia and therefore is of crucial significance for the biodiversity of that region. In this paper, we reviewed the literature available with regard to vegetation, fauna, and biodiversity of the Ile River Delta and South Lake Balkhash Ramsar Site , in order to identify threats and research gaps. Threats are reduced runoff of the Ile River due to increasing water consumption upstream, overfishing, fires ignited by local people, logging for fuel wood collection, over-grazing, and water pollution from upstream. Major research gaps to be addressed are: 1) impact of reduced discharges of the Ile River on the wetland ecosystems and associated changes in livestock grazing, 2) impact of reduced discharges on spawning grounds for fish, 3) upper harvest limits for the fishery, and 4) regrowth of riparian woodlands.

The Ili River is a transboundary river shared by China, upstream, and Kazakhstan, downstream. The Ili is the main water supplier to Lake Balkhash, the largest lake in Central Asia after desiccation of the Aral Sea. Agreements over water allocation have not been concluded between China and Kazakhstan. This paper investigated water consumption of agriculture and riparian ecosystems in the Ili river basin, to provide information for further debate on water allocation, through the Simplified Surface Energy Balance Index (S-SEBI) approach using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images. The overall water consumption in the Ili river basin was 14.3 km3/a in 2000, 17.2 km3/a in 2005, and 15 km3/a in 2014. In 2000, China and Kazakhstan consumed 38% and 62% of the water, respectively. By 2014, the relative share of China’s water consumption increased to 43%. In China, 80% of the water consumption is due to agriculture. High runoff during the past 10 years enabled increasing water consumption in China and sufficient water supply to agriculture and riparian ecosystems in Kazakhstan. When runoff of the Ili River decreases, as expected for most rivers in Central Asia, then irrigation efficiency has to be further increased in China, and irrigation systems in Kazakhstan have to be restored and modernized in order to reduce water consumption and protect Lake Balkhash and the riparian ecosystems.

Central Asia is the region with the worldwide highest number of endorheic or closed river basins. Many of those river basins are transboundary ones. Following the desiccation of the Aral Sea, Lake Balkhash has become the largest lake of Central Asia with an area of 17,000 km2. The Ili Delta, in total 8000 km2 large, is the largest natural delta and wetland complex of Central Asia. Seventy percent of the Ili River’s runoff is generated in China. So, the Ili Delta is a showcase for a wetland complex lying downstream in a transboundary river basin. The objective of this paper is to assess the area and distribution of the wetlands and Phragmites australis-dominated reed vegetation as major natural ecosystems in the Ili Delta and their associated ecosystem services. An analysis of Rapid Eye satellite images revealed that there are wetlands and reed vegetation on a total area of 211,778 ha in the Ili Delta. A total of 85,400 ha are submerged reed beds with a total estimated biomass of 869,097 t. P. australis is used as fodder and raw material. Currently, there are about 100,000 livestock grazing in the delta. The submerged reed is planned to be used by a factory for chipboards and a paper factory. The wetlands are important spawning grounds for fish of Lake Balkhash. In 2014, almost 10,000 tourists visited the delta. Most of all tourists come from Almaty, followed by Russia, other regions of Kazakhstan, and Europe (outside Russia).

Central Asia’s Ili River is fed by mountain streams that flow down into an isolated and arid basin that today is shared by Kazakhstan and China. Agriculture in the basin is dependent upon irrigation, which was practiced as long ago as the Iron Age, when early pastoralists constructed ditches to channel water from streams onto nearby fields. Irrigation had become much more common by the 18th century, when the region was controlled by the Dzungarian Khanate. The khanate was toppled by the Qing Chinese in the 1750s in the first of a series of confrontations that destroyed and then rebuilt the basin’s agricultural economy. The region has since been dominated by a succession of Chinese and Russian (and later Soviet and independent Kazakh) governments, each of which recognized the essential role of irrigated agriculture in maintaining control. Thus every cycle of destruction led to reclamation of new lands, resettlement of farmers and upgrading of infrastructure to expand irrigation. This allowed an impressive diversity of fruits, vegetables and field crops to be grown, especially on loess soils of the more fertile upper basin, where tributaries could be easily tapped by gravity flow. Many of these tributaries were entirely diverted by the 19th century, so that they no longer reached the Ili. Large scale irrigation commenced in the 1960s, when the Soviets built Kapchagai dam and reservoir in the lower part of the basin and installed pumps to raise water from the Ili River onto nearby reclaimed sierozem soils, mostly for cultivation of rice. China later constructed a cluster of small- and medium-sized dams that enabled expansion of agriculture in the upper part of the basin. Many irrigated areas along the lower reaches of the Ili in Kazakhstan have been abandoned, but irrigation in the upper basin continues to expand. Declining soil fertility, salinization, pollution, insufficient inflows and adverse economic conditions currently challenge irrigation across the entire basin. Investments are being made in new technologies as a means to sustain irrigated agriculture in the basin, but it remains to be seen if these strategies will be successful.