The main regularities in vegetation cover distribution in Tuva depends on latitudinal zoning, altitudinal zonality, phenomena of intrazonal category, historical events in the formation of flora and vegetation and anthropogenic factors. By the nature and patterns of vegetation cover Tuva belongs to two major natural units, i.e. the Altai-Sayan mountain region and the area of desert steppes and deserts of drainless basins of Northern Mongolia. The North-Eastern part of Tuva is one of the few areas of Siberia, where economic activities are very limited due to its remote location. So, the topography and climate of the region make the most of the territory unsuitable for agricultural activity and, consequently, such processes as anthropogenic erosion, deflation, diminishing of soil and vegetation cover fertility and transformation are not developed. Such traditional types of nature management have been still kept up, i.e. reindeer herding, hunting, fishing and gathering. However, at present the mining industry is beginning to develop in the region. The planned facilities for constructing mining and processing integrated plants are located on the headstreams of the Yenisei, on the periphery of the Todzha depression that is in the North-Eastern part of Tuva, which is a unique natural “pearl” and ecologically clean area of the Altai-Sayan region. The paper focuses on the structure of the vegetation cover of the studied area, its dynamics and vulnerability to anthropogenic impacts. Special attention is given to the cedar, cedar-larch and sparse forests classified as climatic protective group I. The article touches upon the issues of rare and extinct plants protection.
Vostochnyy Sayan, Tuva, vysokogor'e, tundra, redkoles'ya, fitocenozy, sohranenie
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