GEO-ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF PLANT RESOURCES OF THE NORTH CHECHEN LOWLAND IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

North-Chechen lowland located in the South-East of the vast Caspian lowland, more than 90 % of the territory is occupied by sand Piterskogo sandy massif, the largest sandy array in Europe, its area more than 500 thousand hectares. The North Chechen lowland belongs to the regions where the processes of degradation and transformation of dry-steppe pasture ecosystems are particularly active, which are characterized by instability to external influences caused by economic activity, and increasing climatic conditions, which have a tendency to aridization caused by climate warming. Active aridization of climatic conditions and increased salinity of soils determine the desert-steppe character of the vegetation cover of the North Chechen lowland. According to the nature of the vegetation cover, the lowland is considered to be a transition zone from the steppes to the semi-deserts of the Caspian lowland. A distinctive feature of vegetation is a regular change of steppe plant communities, which are formed by xerophilic species of perennial grasses with the dominance of desert xerophilic semi-shrubs. A significant place in the vegetation is occupied by saline and saline forms. To the northeast, with increasing aridity of the climate, vegetation is thinning, sod grasses are gradually disappearing and everything a large role in the cover is acquired by Solyanka. However, on addition the influence of vegetation cover is beginning to affect more and more economic impact, mainly grazing. Even with minor changes in the surface, there is a sharp change in plant groups from grass-steppe associations to associations of sagebrush and Solyanka.