Influence of Climate Change on Groundwater Level and State of Pine Plantations on Sands of Caspian Lowland

The influence of changes in groundwater level dynamics on the state and growth of old-aged pine plantations growing in the Caspian lowland in the barchanic depressions of the Naryn sands is studied. The main reason for the deterioration in the physical condition of pine trees is the yearly decline in moisture consumption from groundwater due to the earlier seasonal separation of the lower tier of the root systems from the upper boundary of the capillary fringe of groundwater. This is caused by the climatogenic trend of the decrease of groundwater level since 2005. The drying of the weakened trees is hastened by other environmental factors such as the burial of the upper tier of root systems, infection of tree trunks by Buprestidae, partial tearing of horizontal conducting roots of the upper tier by hurricane winds.