We have conducted investigation of the environmental function of the desert tree of black saxaul (Haloxylon aphyllum) in the Karnabchul desert. As a result, it was found that different age plants of black saxaul had different effects on the degree of illumination. The greatest influence on the intensity of solar radiation was exerted by the saxaul plant of the black middle-aged state, the least the old generative individuals. Saxaul black had a significant impact on the temperature of the air: in the daytime, especially in the period 13-16 h, reducing the temperature under the crown and on the edge of the crown, and at night increasing it in the same areas. It also had a noticeable effect on the temperature of the soil. The temperature of the soil surface under the crown at night is higher, and during the day the warming was slower than in the outer part of the saxaul crown. Under the influence of black saxaul and soil moisture changed. Under the saxaul crown soil moisture is significantly higher compared to the control (open natural pastures). The highest soil moisture was observed in the upper soil layers at the base of the saxaul trunk. As a result, under the environmental action of black saxaul more favorable hydrothermal conditions for the growth and development of natural wormwood-ephemeral vegetation under the protection of strips and adjacent areas of pastures are formed. The result of production activities chemotaxonomic postbestowal bands consists of two following components: production of fodder mass of the Haloxylon and fodder productivity of wormwood-ephemeral vegetation of natural pastures. By increasing the yield of natural pastures under the protection of pasture protection strips and the harvest of the black saxaul fodder productivity of desert pastures increases more than twice.
Drought stress and its intensity, the factor of strategies selection for drought tolerance in Haloxylon aphyllum
