Publication of the book, "Halophytes of the Aralkum Saline Desert and Adjacent Drylands," describing the salt-tolerant plants that grow on and around the dried bottom of the Aral Sea, Central Asia

Halophytes-of-the-Aralkum-Saline-Desert--(High-resolution)

In March 2024, with the support of the JST/JICA joint project SATREPS-Blue Uzbekistan (JPMJSA 2001), Dr. MATSUO and Prof. TODERICH of the Laboratory of Forest Planning for the Environment published a book "Halophytes of the Aralkum Saline Desert and Adjacent Drylands", in collaboration with Japanese and Uzbek researchers. The Aral Sea in Central Asia, which was the world's fourth largest lake until the 1960s, has shrunk to about 10% of its original size due to human activities such as massive water withdrawal through irrigated agriculture, and the surrounding ecosystem and industries have changed dramatically. However, halophytes invaded from the surrounding natural vegetation has grown on the dried bottom of the lake, forming a new ecosystem known as the Aralkum Desert. This book is the first English-language book in the world that introduces the ecology and uses of halophytes growing in this new ecosystem.

We are distributing a PDF version of this book free of charge in the hope that it will be useful not only to people in the Aral Sea region, but also to researchers, engineers, and interested people in Japan.

➡　 A PDF version of this book can be downloaded here.（111MB）

The eastern shoreline of the Aral Sea as of June 2023
Second from right, Prof. Toderich; third, Prof. Yamanaka; fourth, Mr. Yano (M1 student);
third from left, Dr. Shomurodov; leftmost, Dr. Matsuo.
Photo by Mr. Tamamura (B4 student).

The western shoreline of the Aral Sea as of September 2023
Photo by Matsuo.

Halophytes of the Aralkum Saline Desert and Adjacent Drylands
Kristina TODERICH, Naoko MATSUO, Temur KHUJANAZAROV, Khabibullo SHOMURODOV and Norikazu YAMANAKA (eds.)

Part 1 Introduction to the Aralkum Saline Desert and Adjacent Drylands
1. History of the Aralkum Saline Desert
2. Topography, Climate and Water Resources
3. Botanical-Geographical Zones of Uzbekistan
4. Ecology and Physiology of Halophytes
5. Ecological Groups of Halophytes of the Aralkum Saline Desert
6. Domestication of Wild Halophytes into a Halophytic Farming
Part2 Botanical Characteristics and Use of Key Halophyte Species

More Detail

Arid Land Research Center,Tottori University
➡ https://www.alrc.tottori-u.ac.jp/japanese/news-detail.php?id=262
➡ https://www.alrc.tottori-u.ac.jp/english/e_index.php