remnants of gene pools of these species. Badghyz Natural Reserve, established in 1941, became a refuge for the last existing population of the Turkmen onager (Equus hemionus onager) and a unique pistachio woodland. A new generation oflocal Turkmen scientists, many of whom were trained by the Russian researchers in the graduate schools of Moscow and Leningrad arose from the 1930s through the 1950s. The Turkmen Academy of Sciences and its journal, Proceedings (including the monthly biological series), served to record the results of diverse biological studies in the republic. While basic science in the Middle Asian republics rather gained from the Russian "colonial" influence, natural resources, in contrast, were severely damaged by the Soviet way of handling the economy and social issues. Severe environmental problems have been inherited by the now independent Turkmenistan, including overgrazed desert pastures, deforested mountains, depleted water resources, accumulated pesticides in cotton fields, declining populations of endangered species of animals and plants, and - worst of al- progressing, human-caused desertification (Kharin this volume). In order to approach a solution to these problems, scientists and officials in the republic will need the close attention and help of the international scientific community.

This book presents an overview study about plant biogeography and vegetation of the high mountains of Central and South-West Asia, by a group of specialists familiar with its area and plant growth and ecology. This book discusses its ecological and evolutionary drivers and also its conservation priorities. Central and South-West Asia is one of the most diverse areas in the northern hemisphere and several biodiversity hotspots are concentrated in this region. Most of the biodiversity hotspots are associated with high mountain ranges of the region. Moreover, these mountains have been immigration corridors for the Central Asian flora to reach Euro-Siberian and Mediterranean regions. Despite its importance, there is no overview publication to present the plant biogeography and vegetation of these mountains and most of the publications are local or rather imprecise

The period c. 10,000-5000 BC witnessed fundamental changes in the human condition with societies across the Fertile Crescent shifting their alignment from millennia-old practices of seasonally mobile hunting and foraging to year-round sedentism, plant cultivation and animal herding. The significant role of Iran in the early stages of this transition was recognised more than half a century ago but has not been to the fore of academic consciousness in recent decades. In the meantime, investigations into Neolithic transformation have proceeded apace in all other regions of the Fertile Crescent and beyond. Here, 18 studies attempt to redress that balance in re-assessing the role of Iran in the early neolithisation of human societies. These studies, many of them by Iranian scholars, consider patterns of change and/or continuity across a variety of topographical landscapes; investigate Neolithic settlement patterns, the use of caves, animal exploitation and environmental indicators and present new insights into some well-known and some newly investigated sites. The results re-affirm the formative role of this region in the transition to sedentary farming.

Many dryland regions contain archaeological remains which suggest that there must have been intensive phases of settlement in what now seem to be dry and degraded environments. This book discusses successes and failures of past land use and settlement in drylands, and contributes to wider debates about desertification and the sustainability of dryland settlement.

In Origins of Agriculture in Western Central Asia, archaeologist David R. Harris addresses questions of when, how, and why agriculture and settled village life began east of the Caspian Sea. The book describes and assesses evidence from archaeological investigations in Turkmenistan and adjacent parts of Iran, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan in relation to present and past environmental conditions and genetic and archaeological data on the ancestry of the crops and domestic animals of the Neolithic period. It includes accounts of previous research on the prehistoric archaeology of the region and reports the results of a recent environmental-archaeological project undertaken by British, Russian, and Turkmen archaeologists in Turkmenistan, principally at the early Neolithic site of Jeitun (Djeitun) on the southern edge of the Karakum desert. This project has demonstrated unequivocally that agropastoralists who cultivated barley and wheat, raised goats and sheep, hunted wild animals, made stone tools and pottery, and lived in small mudbrick settlements were present in southern Turkmenistan by 7,000 years ago (c. 6,000 BCE calibrated), where they came into contact with hunter-gatherers of the "Keltiminar Culture." It is possible that barley and goats were domesticated locally, but the available archaeological and genetic evidence leads to the conclusion that all or most of the elements of the Neolithic "Jeitun Culture" spread to the region from farther west by a process of demic or cultural diffusion that broadly parallels the spread of Neolithic agropastoralism from southwest Asia into Europe. By synthesizing for the first time what is currently known about the origins of agriculture in a large part of Central Asia, between the more fully investigated regions of southwest Asia and China, this book makes a unique contribution to the worldwide literature on transitions from hunting and gathering to agriculture.

Central Asia has been perceived as a landscape of connections, of Silk Roads; an endless plain across which waves of conquerors swiftly rode on horseback. In reality the region is highly fragmented and difficult to traverse, and overcoming these obstacles led to routes becoming associated with epic travel and high-value trade. Put simply, the inhabitants of these lands became experts in the art of travelling the margins. This volume seeks to unravel some of the myths of long-distance roads in Central Asia, using a desert case-study to put forward a new hypothesis for how medieval landscapes were controlled and manipulated.

В монографии обобщены данные о таксономии, номенклатуре, географическом распространении и некоторых аспектах биономии моллюсков пресных и солоноватых вод территории бывшего СССР. Всего в настоящий каталог включены данные о 424 номинальных видах класса Bivalvia и 728 номинальных видах Gastropoda. Актуальное видовое богатство водных континентальных моллюсков бывшего СССР, вероятно, существенно ниже, поскольку валидность многих из номинальных видов нуждается в дополнительном подтверждении, и в будущем часть из них может быть сведена в синонимы. Каждому виду посвящен краткий очерк, построенный по единой схеме. Также в каталоге содержатся данные о распространении всех видов моллюсков по отдельным регионам бывшего СССР, сведения о вселении инвазивных видов, информация об охранном статусе отдельных видов в соответствии с критериями МСОП. Также приведены количественные данные о сходстве водных фаун отдельных регионов бывшего СССР и результаты кластерного анализа, выполненного на их основе. Книга предназначена для специалистов в области малакологии, биогеографии, гидробиологии, а также для преподавателей и студентов высших учебных заведений.The monograph summarizes information on taxonomy, nomenclature, distribution and some aspects of bionomics of molluscs of the former USSR fresh and brackish waters. This ‘Analytical catalogue’ is a deeply improved and updated version of two previously published catalogue works (Yu.I. Kantor, A.V. Sysoev “Catalogue of molluscs of Russia and adjacent countries”, 2002, in Russian; and Yu.I. Kantor, M.V. Vinarski, A.A. Shileyko, A.V. Sysoev “Catalogue of the continental mollusks of Russia and adjacent territories”, 2010). In total, the data on 424 nominal species of Bivalvia and 728 nominal species of Gastropoda are included into this book. The actual species richness of aquatic continental molluscs of the former USSR perhaps is significantly lower since validity of many of these nominal species may be questioned and a portion of them is destined to be synonymized in future. During preparation of the book the authors tried to take into account different views on systematization of the ex- USSR aquatic molluscs and to find some correspondence between the ‘Russian’ system (founded in 1960–1970s by Ya.I. Starobogatov) and the approach followed by malacologists working outside Russia. Current approaches to the ‘species problem’ in malacology are briefly discussed. Also, the catalogue includes information about distribution of all molluscan species among large regions of the former USSR area, some data about invasions of alien species and the conservation status of indigenous taxa in accordance with IUCN Red List criteria. The quantitative estimates of faunistic similarity between aquatic malacofaunas of the ex-USSR large regions and the results of the cluster analysis carried out on the basis of these estimates are also provided. The book is addressed to malacologists, biogeographers, hydrobiologists as well as to university lecturers and students.