Zone of the steppes of Russia. Animal and plant life

The steppe zone of Russia is the southern part of the East European Plain, Western Siberia, and also the east, which is covered with steppes to the foothills of the Altai and Transbaikalia. In the steppe zone, summer is usually warm, with a limited amount of precipitation and a cold winter. The amount of precipitation is about 200-450 mm per year. In the summer period, the air moves from the Atlantic Ocean and, due to its distance from it, gradually turns into a continental one.

The steppe zone has a long extension, which forms the heterogeneity of its climate. For example, in winter you can observe such a phenomenon: the further you move to the east, the longer the winter lasts and the more it is cold. And if we move from west to east, then the clouds and precipitations fall substantially, which are approximately 500-300 mm per year. At the same time, the climate already has signs of continental, and the steppe itself looks drier and, naturally, flora and fauna change.

Since the precipitation is low and the volatility is high, the steppe zone of Russia, as a rule, has a surface runoff. The rivers here are shallow and in the summer completely dry up. The zone of the steppes is a continuous treeless area with a predominance of natural landscapes. Here the herbaceous vegetation is completely dominated , for hundreds of kilometers the sea of herbs is fragrant. The most common are: steppe oats, fescue, feather grass, tonkonog and bluegrass, but grass-grasses are more preferred by the northern regions.

The zone of the steppes in the north contains chernozem with humus, which in the soil is about 8-10%, and to the south this level is already reduced to 6%. When moving farther south to the wormwood-fescue dry steppes, the grass cover is more sparse and predominates with a low content of humus, sometimes less than 3-4%, the soils here are chestnut.

There is a natural zone of the steppe of several species: shrub, meadow, feather grass and wormwood. The nature of the cover is affected by the composition of the soil and the shape of the earth's surface.

In the steppe, life is always boiling, and the reason for this is herbage. It provides shelter and food for many types of animals. Currently, there are more than 50 species of mammals and about 250 species of birds. Only one rodent a large number: mice, voles, hamsters, jerboas, marmots. They, as a rule, have very well adapted to the environment and have learned to disguise themselves well from numerous enemies, because the natural zone taught them this.

The steppe is full of birds, for example, such as whitish moons, cobs, larks, eagles-burial grounds. The cranes are the belladonna. This also includes such birds as avdotki, bustards, strepets, suckers and spotty trehperstki. They are very cautious, like to walk around sown fields. Here you can also see gray and bearded partridges and fast quail.

The steppe zone is an excellent habitat for jerboa. Despite its dense, knocked-over body, the animal moves with rapid jumps on its hind legs, controlling its tail with all its movements. Speed and quick reaction to it are necessary, as it is a welcome prey for local predators - foxes and weasels.

Birds also do not stop hunting for delicious prey for an instant, so the front legs of rodents are much shorter than the rear ones, and they run very fast. There are also animals here who do not leave their shelter at all - the land. These are the most real earthworms, they are the captains and mole rats. Step ants also keep up with them and erect majestic structures underground and on its surface.

Active hamsters, voles and mole rats safely store food reserves, which they collected in the summer, in small holes. The burrow mice are digging a mound or a small "kurganchik" and hiding their food in it. Pishokha loves fragrant hay, she puts it in a neat stack right at the entrance to her burrow. Ungulates are the most common saiga. He has an excellent acuity vision, which helps him in moments of danger, and the speed of the race, he generally has no equal.