Cyclachaena xanthiifolia (Nuttall) Fresenius, an invasive species belonging to the "transformer" species capable of radically transforming natural plant communities and influencing the taxonomic and phylogenetic uniqueness of regional floras, was found for the first time on the territory of the Aktobe region. The plant was found on the territory of Aktobe , three cenopopulations with C. xanthiifolia have been described. All the studied cenopopulations are small-species containing 7-9 species and consist of ruderal species. In all three cenopopulations, C. xanthiifolia together with Chenopodium album are the dominant plant communities., the partial projective coverage is 20%., the density in populations is from 12.0±3.1 to 17.0±2.6 pcs/m2, the height varies from 80.0±9.3 to 138±14.0 cm. The activity of C. xanthiifolia is very high and is second only to C. album.

Wild almond relatives are valuable reservoirs of allelic variation for crop improvement and conservation, yet Kazakhstan’s wild-almond genetic resources remain poorly characterised. We conducted an exploratory SSR assessment of 80 putative individuals from four taxon-locality groups (20 per group), each representing one sampled population: Prunus ledebouriana, P. tenella, P. petunnikowii, and P. spinosissima. Of 22 nuclear simple sequence repeat loci screened for cross-taxon transferability, 15 generated reproducible profiles and were retained; their even genome-wide distribution was not verified. Across the full dataset, the mean number of alleles was 3.55, the effective number of alleles was 2.62, expected heterozygosity (He) was 0.544, and 95.0% of loci were polymorphic. Missing genotypes ranged from 0.0% to 34.7% among groups, and six loci had at least 20% missing data. AMOVA attributed 76.5% of variation to within-group differences and 23.5% to among-group differences (PhiPT = 0.235, p = 0.001). PCoA, unbiased Nei distances, UPGMA, and descriptive Bayesian clustering separated the four sampled groups. A nine-locus sensitivity analysis that excluded the six high-missing loci retained P. spinosissima as the group with the highest mean He (0.699), whereas P. petunnikowii increased from 0.471 to 0.609. Thus, the low full-panel estimate for P. petunnikowii was not robust to missing data. Because taxon identity was fully confounded with locality and the marker panel was limited, the results are interpreted as a regional marker-transferability and methodological baseline rather than as species-wide or genome-wide inference.

Данная статья посвящена исследованию пространственного распространения, генетического разнообразия, экологических особенностей и охранного статуса прострела раскрытого (Pulsatillapatens (L.) Mill.) в Казахстане. Методами литературного анализа и геоинформационного моделирования на основе данных GBIF и инструмента GeoCat систематизированы известные точки произрастания вида. Установлено значительное расхождение между огромной областью возможного распространения (1 063 881,798 км²) и крайне небольшой фактически освоенной площадью обитания (392 км²), что свидетельствует о существенной пространственной фрагментации популяций. P. patens предпочитает открытые, хорошо освещенные территории и встречается в широком спектре экосистем: от сосново-березовых лесов до сухих степей. Генетические исследования популяций Северного Казахстана показали высокий уровень полиморфизма. Однако низкие показатели ожидаемой гетерозиготности указывают на риски инбредной депрессии и угрозу изоляции локальных фитоценозов. Учитывая прохождение южной границы ареала вида через Казахстан, его уязвимость к антропогенным нагрузкам и официальное включение во II категорию Красной книги РК, обоснована необходимость проведения регулярного мониторинга, сравнительного анализа генофонда и разработки комплексных практических мер по эффективной охране редких степных популяций.

The article provides data on the distribution and ecology of Kazakh species Leontice L. and Gymnospermium Spach. (Berberidaceae Juss.) based on analyses of herbarium specimens from four major scientific institutions in Russia and Kazakhstan. A total of 196 herbarium sheets were processed, 116 from herbarium collections of the V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LE) (St. Petersburg, Russia) and 42 from the Noah's Ark (MW) depository of living systems of the digital herbarium of the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov (St. Petersburg, Russia). Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), 25 from the herbarium collection of the Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction (AA) (Almaty, Kazakhstan), and 13 from the scientific depository "Virtual Herbarium ALTB" (ALTB) of the South Siberian Botanical Garden of Altai State University (Barnaul, Russia). Most specimens were collected 100 or more years ago, a minor number in the 50s–80s of the last century, and quite fewer modern, which are mainly represented in the scientific depository of the South Siberian Botanical Garden of Altai State University. All herbarium samples were found in the most ecologically typical habitats of the species. The distribution of Gymnospermium altaicum (Pall.) Spach. in the mountains of Tarbagatai and Dzungarian Alatau is uncertain, as the only confirmation of the presence of this species in Tarbagatai is only two herbarium sheets collected in 1840 by Karelin et Kiriloff. As regards the Dzungarian Alatau, no herbarium sheets of this species collected there were found. The results of the research show the possibility of using herbarium specimens to clarify the distribution and ecology of the studied species, as well as the need for additional research, as in the case of the rare species Gymnospermium altaicum. Key words: herbarium, Berberidaceae, Leontice, Gymnospermium, Kazakhstan

This paper presents a generalized analysis of the distribution and ecological features of Ornithogalum fischerianum Krasch. in Kazakhstan, based on the data from scientific literature and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The species is an important component of the steppe and semi-desert ecosystems of Eurasia, but information on its range in Kazakhstan has so far remained fragmentary. Based on the available data, the Extent of Occurrence (821.100 km²) and Area of ​​Occupancy (84 km²) were calculated, demonstrating a high degree of range fragmentation and indicating the need for additional field studies. It is shown that O. fischerianum has high ecological plasticity, occurring both in natural habitats (forb-grass, feather-grass-fescue, wormwood-grass, solonetz and calciphyte communities) and in anthropogenically transformed landscapes, including urban flora. However, the identified populations are usually local and small in number, which indicates the potential vulnerability of the species. The need to review the conservation status of O. fischerianum at the international level is noted, since it is not represented in the IUCN Red List, despite being included in the national Red Books of Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. The importance of further studying the dynamics of populations, threat factors and justification of conservation measures is emphasized, which is important for the conservation of the biodiversity of the steppe ecosystems of Kazakhstan.