The Central Asian northern desert is an ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

 in the deserts and xeric shrublands

Deserts and xeric shrublands

Deserts and xeric shrublands is a biome characterized by, relating to, or requiring only a small amount of moisture.-Definition and occurrence:...

 biome

Biome

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...

, located in the Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

n countries of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

 and Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

Setting

The Central Asian northern desert occupies southern Kazakhstan and most of Uzbekistan, and largely corresponds with the desert known as the Kyzyl Kum

Kyzyl Kum

The Kyzyl Kum , also called Qyzylqum, is the 11th largest desert in the world. Its name means Red Sand in Turkic languages. It is located in Central Asia in the doab between the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, and is divided between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan...

. This ecoregion experiences a typical cold desert climate; January mean temperatures range from -10 °C to -15 °C, while July means range from 24 °C (75.2 °F) to 26 °C (78.8 °F). On average, precipitation ranges from 100 millimetres (3.9 in) to 150 millimetres (5.9 in) annually. The topography of this ecoregion is varied, featuring salty "solonchak

Solonchak

Solonchak is pale or grey soil type found in arid to subhumid, poorly drained conditions. The word is Russian for "salt marsh" in turn from Russian sol , "salt"....

" deserts with a great number of salt flats

Dry lake

Dry lakes are ephemeral lakebeds, or a remnant of an endorheic lake. Such flats consist of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salts. Dry lakes are also referred to as alkali flats, sabkhas, playas or mud flats...

, clay deserts, rocky deserts, and a small area of sandy desert in the southern portion of the region.

Flora

The vegetation of this ecoregion is dominated by shrubs and semi-shrubs, with a variety of different species adapted to the different soil types found in it. Clay deserts support communities of Anabasis salsa, Salsola

Salsola

Salsola is a genus of the subfamily Salsoloideae in the family Amaranthaceae. A common name of various members of this genus is saltwort, for its salt tolerance.-Description:...

 orientalis, and the Artemisia species A. terrae albae, A. turanica, and A. gurganica. The stony deserts support mainly Salsola arbusculae formis and Nanophyton erinaceum, while the "solonchaks" support the semi-shrubs Ceratoides papposa, Artemisia terrae albae, var. massagetovii, A. santolina, and A. songarica, shrubs such as Calligonum aphyllum, Ephedra lomatolepis as well as grasses such as Agropyron

Agropyron

Agropyron is a genus of grasses , native to Europe and Asia. Species in the genus are commonly referred to as crested-wheat grasses...

 fragile.

Fauna

Mammals of the Central Asian northern desert include the Long-eared Hedgehog

Long-eared Hedgehog

The Long-eared hedgehog is a species of hedgehog native to Central Asian countries and the Middle East. The long-eared hedgehog lives in burrows that it either makes or finds and is distinguished by its long ears. It is considered one of the smallest middle eastern hedgehogs . This Hedgehog is...

 (Hemiechinus auritus), Tolai Hare

Tolai Hare

The Tolai Hare is a species of hare found in Central Asia, Mongolia, and Northern and Central China. It inhabits semi-desert, steppes, rocky habitats, and forest meadows. It is relatively common, even in areas with heavy human disturbance, due to its fast reproductive rate.-Reference:*...

 (lepus tolai), various species of Gerbil

Gerbil

A gerbil is a small mammal of the order Rodentia. Once known simply as "desert rats", the gerbil subfamily includes about 110 species of African, Indian, and Asian rodents, including sand rats and jirds, all of which are adapted to arid habitats...

 and Jerboa

Jerboa

The jerboa form the bulk of the membership of the family Dipodidae. Jerboas are hopping desert rodents found throughout Asia and Northern Africa. They tend to be found in hot deserts....

, Saiga Antelope

Saiga Antelope

The saiga is a Critically Endangered antelope which originally inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe zone from the foothills of the Carpathians and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. They also lived in North America during the Pleistocene...

 (Saiga tatarica), Steppe Polecat (Mustela eversmanni), Goitered gazelle

Goitered Gazelle

The Goitered, Black-tailed or Persian gazelle is a gazelle found in the north part of Azerbaijan, in a large area of central Asia, including part of Iran and southern west Pakistan in the western end of the range, as well as the Gobi desert...

 (Gazella subgutturosa ), Onager

Onager

The Onager is a large member of the genus Equus of the family Equidae native to the deserts of Syria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Israel and Tibet...

 (Equus hemonius) and suslik (Spermophilus

Spermophilus

Spermophilus is a genus of ground squirrels in the family Sciuridae. The majority of ground squirrel species, over 40 in total, are usually placed in this genus...

 spp.).

Birds of this ecoregion include wheatear

Wheatear

The wheatears are passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe. They were formerly considered to be members of the thrush family Turdidae, but are now more commonly placed in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae...

s (Oenanthe isabellina, O. deserti), desert warbler

Desert Warbler

The Desert Warbler is a former bird species, which has now been divided into two species:*African Desert Warbler Sylvia deserti*Asian Desert Warbler Sylvia nana...

 (Sylvia nana), Brown-necked raven

Brown-necked Raven

The Brown-necked Raven is a larger bird than the Carrion Crow though not as large as the Common Raven. It has similar proportions to the common raven but the bill is not so large or deep and the wings tend to be a little more pointed in profile...

 (Corvus ruficollis), the endangered Houbara Bustard

Houbara Bustard

The Houbara Bustard, Chlamydotis undulata, is a large bird in the bustard family.-Description:The Houbara Bustard is a small to mid-sized bustard. It measures in length and spans across the wings. It is brown above and white below, with a black stripe down the sides of its neck. In flight, the...

 (Chlamydotis undulata), Black-bellied Sandgrouse

Black-bellied Sandgrouse

The Black-bellied Sandgrouse is a medium large bird in the sandgrouse family.The nominate race breeds in Iberia, northwest Africa, the Canary Islands, Turkey, Iran, Cyprus and Israel. The eastern form P. o. arenarius is found in Kazakhstan, western China and northern Pakistan...

 (Pterocles orientalis), Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...

 (Aquila chrysaetos), Steppe Eagle

Steppe Eagle

The Steppe Eagle is a bird of prey. It is about in length and has a wingspan of . Females, weighing 2.3–4.9 kg , are slightly larger than males, at 2–3.5 kg . Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae...

 (Aquila rapax), Egyptian Vulture

Egyptian Vulture

The Egyptian Vulture is a small Old World vulture, found widely distributed from southwestern Europe and northern Africa to southern Asia. It is the only living member of the genus Neophron. It has sometimes also been known as the White Scavenger Vulture or Pharaoh's Chicken...

 (Neophron percnopterus), and the Saker Falcon

Saker Falcon

The Saker Falcon is a very large falcon. This species breeds from eastern Europe eastwards across Asia to Manchuria. It is mainly migratory except in the southernmost parts of its range, wintering in Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula, northern Pakistan and western China...

 (Falco cherrug).

Numerous reptiles can be found in this ecoregion, including numerous Agama lizards, Rustamov's skink gekko (Teratoscincus scincus rustamovi), Chernov's snake-lizard (Ophimorus chernovi), Ferghana sand lizard (Eremias scripta pherganensis), Desert Monitor (Varanus griseus) and the Central Asian Cobra (Naja oxiana

Naja oxiana

Naja oxiana or the Central Asian Cobra is a species of venomous snake found in Central Asia.-Distribution:It is found in Afghanistan, NE Iran, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, SW Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The type locality is Transcaspia....

).

The invertebrate

Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...

 fauna of this ecoregion is quite rich, especially in the sandy deserts, supporting a variety of grasshopper

Grasshopper

The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...

s, beetle

Beetle

Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

s, butterflies

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

, termite

Termite

Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...

s and ant

Ant

Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...

s.

Conservation status and threats

The conservation status of this ecoregion is listed as "Vulnerable", and the main threats to its integrity are conversion of habitat to farmland, over-hunting and poaching and the use of plants for firewood and silk production. Protected areas include the Barsa-Kelmes reserve on an island in the Aral Sea

Aral Sea

The Aral Sea was a lake that lay between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south...

, the Kaplankyr reserve, the Ustyurt reserve, and the Altyn-Emel National Park in Kazakhstan.