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).