Plant strategies and Indicator species
The values of the C-S-R plant life strategies showed that A.
kopetdaghensis was S-selected in all combinations of grazing and
aridity levels. Stress-tolerant species were dominant under the shrub’s
canopy in both the high-stress sites (high aridity/high grazing) and the
low-stress sites (low aridity/low grazing), i.e. Poa bulbosa L.,Salsola dendroides Pall., Achillea biebersteini Afan., andEremurus stenophyllus (Boiss & Buhse) Baker. However, the
stress-tolerant species (S) were replaced by ruderals (R-selected, i.e.Alyssum desertorum Stapf, Astragalus filicaulis Kar. &
Kir., Callipeltis cucullaria (L.) Stev., Galium
tricornutum Dandy) and competitors (C-selected, i.e. Cirsium
bornmuelleri Sint. ex Bornm., Prunus pseudoprostrata (Pojark.)
Rech.f, Thalictrum sultanabadense Stapf - Table 3), respectively,
on the sites with intermediate stress levels: low intensity of livestock
grazing or aridity (high aridity/low grazing and low aridity/high
grazing).
Concerning the life cycle of indicator species, annuals prevailed on the
LG sites. Perennials were present on the HG sites of the arid region and
dominated in the semi-arid region, on both HG and LG sites (Table 3).
There were not many indicator species in the open plots, all of them
annual/perennial stress-tolerant species (e.g. Poa bulbosa -HG
sites in the arid region; Aegilops triuncialis and Achillea
biberesteinii in LG sites of the semi-arid region-
Table
3).