Amudarya Reserve

Date of publication: 18 April 2024 / Views: 2,480

The Amudarya Nature Reserve was established in 1982 in order to study, preserve and restore ecosystems in the middle reaches of the Amudarya and the adjacent sandy desert. It consists of three sections, one of which (Kyzylkala-Nargyz) is located on the right bank of the river. Two more sites – Goreldinsky and Kabaklinsky are located on the left bank of the Amu Darya. The total area of the reserve (including the river water area) is 49,500 hectares. He also controls the Kelifsky hunting reserve, established in 1970, with an area of 10.3 thousand hectares. The latter’s lands are used for nesting, wintering, as well as resting and feeding during migratory periods for more than 200 species of birds. In the reserve (and only here) floodplain tugai, as well as ridge-hilly and dune sands and salt marshes, are well preserved. There are also small lakes that remain after the flood waters recede. The region is characterized by a generally favorable climate. But the wind conditions are severe, dust storms sweep for twenty or more days. The flora includes about 200 species of higher plants, 86 of them in tugai forests. These are tugai poplar (turanga), gooseberry (dzhida), Djungarian willow, varieties of tamarisk (igde), erianthus ravenski (khyshsha), kendyr, salt marsh coastal area. In some places, tugai form impassable “jungles”. The flora of the desert part of the reserve is much richer; the main vegetation on the sands consists of white saxaul, species of kandym, solyanka and ephemera. The local fauna is quite diverse. Mammals are represented by 41 species. Among them, the most valuable is the Bukhara deer – hangul. Previously, it was distributed everywhere in the tugai river, but is now on the verge of extinction, found only in the reserve, where its number does not exceed 40 specimens. Otter and caracal are also very rare. About 25 species of birds live here at different times of the year. The rarest of them are the golden eagle, the short-eared snake eagle, the saker falcon, the eagle owl, the bustard, the marbled teal, and the common hawk. In the waters of the river and in reservoirs, 44 species of fish were counted, including two species of pseudoshovel and thornfish listed in the IUCN Red List. Among the 28 species of reptiles, the monitor lizard and viper are especially protected. Among the invertebrates, 80 species of spiders have been identified, many of which are described for the first time. The richest world of insects (7 species listed in the Red Book). Since 1999, the reserve has been implementing a project to preserve the Bukhara deer population. Research staff carry out extensive educational work among schoolchildren and hold competitions on environmental topics. For this purpose, a museum was established. In general, the Amudarya Nature Reserve is an exemplary nature conservation reserve.

Animals

Plants

Red Book

The Amudarya Nature Reserve is a state reserve in the Darganata, Seydi and Farab etraps (districts) of the Lebap velayat of Turkmenistan, created in 1982. The current area of the Amudarya Nature Reserve is 49.5 thousand hectares. It consists of three sections located in three etraps. The territory of the Amudarya Reserve includes part of the waters of the Amudarya River, tugai and a section of the Kyzylkum desert.

Flora and fauna

The fauna of the reserve is unique. Suffice it to say that in its waters there are still extremely rare endemic sturgeon fish – the great and small shovelnose, and in the tugai there is an endemic subspecies of red deer (Bukhara deer or hangul), listed in the IUCN Red Book. Invertebrate animals have not yet been sufficiently studied, and this applies not only to the reserve itself, but also to the entire Amu Darya valley. In 1978-1980 entomologists of the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan identified 446 species of insects, including, within the reserve, 67 cicadas, 76 cutworms, 56 moths, 86 encyrtids, 44 species of gray blowflies. Of the aquatic invertebrates, the most numerous are gastropods (12 species) and chironomids (35). The abundance of moisture in tugai forests facilitates the habitat of various dipterans. It affects many mosquitoes, horseflies, flower flies, herbivorous insects – bedbugs, locusts, beetles, butterflies. In the desert areas, which occupy relatively large areas in the reserve, invertebrates are represented by woodlice, phalanges, scorpions, spiders and insects – various beetles, orthoptera, hymenoptera, etc. Among the rare representatives included in the Red Book of Turkmenistan are Kirichenko’s flying mantis, tree mantis, coastal ant, hawk moth, turanga medal sash, tugai blueberry, turanga cocoon moth.
Fish. Before work on the acclimatization of various fish species, 34 species and subspecies lived in the Amu Darya basin. The current composition of the ichthyofauna includes 43 species, of which 17 are commercial. The increase was due to new representatives – 14 species, including 7 acclimatizers. Among commercial fish, the numbers of many of which continue to decline, ichthyologists include species such as thorn, Aral red-lipped and pike asps, Aral and Turkestan barbel and, of course, carp, catfish, pike perch, grass carp, and silver carp.