Tiger beam reserve. Tiger beam. Excerpt from the Tiger Beam
"You live forever, reserve,
in its pristine beauty
live for the people you
never stop being
necessary "
G.N.Sapozhnikov
Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve www.tigrovajabalka.tj
“Many are likely to be surprised to hear that there is a jungle in Tajikistan. The word jungle comes from the Indian word jangal. So dense impassable bamboo and other tree and shrub thickets with giant herbs and vines along the banks and deltas of the rivers are called in India. Thickets in the floodplains of Central Asian rivers - “tugai” are very similar to the jungle.
Indeed, when you make your way through the thickets of thick, through reeds standing on the wall, the chaotic interweaving of trees, shrubs, vines and grasses, you involuntarily recall vivid descriptions of the impassable wilds of the tropical forests of India or the Amazon.
Previously, tugai were widespread in the floodplains of the Kafirnigan, Vakhsh, Kyzylsu, and Panj rivers in southwestern Tajikistan. Currently, most of the territory occupied in the past by tugai vegetation has been developed for cotton plantations. Tugai survived only in the lower reaches of the Vakhsh river in the protected area “Tigrovaya Balka” and a narrow strip along the Amu-Darya river, along the Tajik-Afghan border.
The reserve is located at the mouth of the Vakhsh River, covering an area of \u200b\u200bmore than 50 thousand hectares. In the north, the border passes directly (formerly with collective farm lands) with the lands of private owners; in the south, the natural border runs along the Pyanj River. In the west, part of the land of the Shaartuz region, in the east, part of the land of the Kumsangir district and the land of the State Land Reserve.
Tigrovaya Balka is the first nature reserve established in Tajikistan. The reserve was created on November 4, 1938, in accordance with the Decree of the People’s Commissariat of Agriculture of the Tajik SSR in order to preserve the natural complex characteristic of the southern deserts and floodplains of Central Asia, protect rare animals and conduct diverse scientific research.
The Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve is the last on the planet the largest reserve of unique communities of tugai flora and fauna. The unique objects preserved in the reserve include animal species such as Bukhara deer, gazelles, striped hyenas, as well as reeds and Persian otters included in the International Red Book. In addition, badgers, wild boars, porcupines, tolai hares, urial, steppe cats, foxes, jackals, wolves live in the reserve. Of the birds in the reserve, a unique subspecies of the pheasant-Tajik black and gold is protected. In winter, a lot of waterfowl and near-water game, including white and black storks, cormorants, geese, swans, crack ducks, and coots, stop at the reservoirs of the reserve. Some part of the crack ducks - coots remain on nesting. Of the reptiles for the reserve, gyurza, efa, cobra, monitor lizard, etc. are characteristic.
The flora of the reserve is represented by more than 400 species of plants, among which there are many valuable for the national economy medicinal, fodder, decorative, technical, melliferous species. Over 20 plant species (tulip, sugarcane, eryanthus, jigda, etc.) are almost never found outside the reserve.
All the species living there are not independent “units” that could be preserved in zoos and botanical gardens, but an equilibrium community that has developed over millennia, a kind of homeostat, the violation of which will lead to the irreversible degeneration and disappearance of many species, as it was, for example , with a Turanian tiger.
Fauna.
The most valuable species from the ungulates of the reserve is the Bukhara deer, or Hangul. Its number in recent years has decreased slightly, according to census data from the late 80s, it is about 150-200 goals. The main number of deer is kept in the south of the protected area in the vicinity of the Blue Backwater, Lake Halka-Kul and Pioneer Lakes.
The optimal number of deer per 1000 ha in tugai “Tigrovaya Balka” can be 35-40 heads. This figure exceeds the average optimal density of deer (25-30 animals) in many farms of the CIS and far abroad, which is explained, first of all, by the low demand of Bukhara deer for branch feed in winter. Actually, the concept of "winter" for the extreme south of Tajikistan is quite relative. Almost until the end of December there is green food here - the result of autumn-winter plant vegetation. In early February, the spring vegetation of the ephemera begins. Thus, Bukhara deer needs branch feed only for one month and then in the most severe winters. The last factor, as you know, primarily limits the density of deer in the European part of the CIS and abroad.
Fauna of fish reserve "Tigrovaya Balka" and p. Vakhsh within its borders is relatively not rich and is represented mainly by cyprinids. Here you can find carp, Turkestan barbel, Aral barbel, Bukhara roach, bald asp, bald asp, Aralian asp, Samarkand chubby fish, dolphin, catfish and sometimes spike.
The dominant species is carp, the weight of which sometimes reaches 8 kg. Common in lakes and catfish. According to the data of A.N. Svetovidov (1952), catfish weighing about 100 kg was produced in Lake Tukhloy.
An extremely curious representative of the fish kingdom lives in the lakes of the Vakhsh floodplain - a small gambusia - the exterminator of the larvae of malaria mosquitoes. It was brought to the lower reaches of Vakhsh in 1938. The fish has multiplied and is currently numerous in all lakes.
It is also necessary to mention the great Amu Darya pseudo-pathos - the oldest fish in Central Asia. It belongs to the sturgeon family and is the closest relative to the shovels found in the river. Mississippi in North America and in the river. Yangtze in China.
The herpetofauna of the reserve is quite diverse. Snakes are relatively common, among which three species - the Central Asian cobra (Naja oxiana Eichw), gyurza (Vipera ebetina L.) and sandy efa (Echis carinata Schneid) - are deadly to humans. Cobra and gyurza live in tugai and desert, efa - only in the sand.
One of the most exotic desert inhabitants of Tigrovaya Balka is the “land crocodile” - a gray monitor lizard (Varanus griseus Daudin). Its length reaches 1.2-1.5 m. Monitor lizards usually live in empty mammalian burrows. They feed mainly on insects, rodents, snakes, sometimes even eat scorpions and phalanges.
According to the diversity of species composition, birds rank first among all vertebrates. In winter, various species of waterfowl accumulate in the staretsa lakes in significant numbers (up to 10-15 thousand). Sometimes there are swans in the winter. An interesting inhabitant of the “beam” in winter is the white heron (Egretta alba alba L.). In separate winters, herons are kept here by hundreds. There are numerous flocks of whistling teal (Anas crecca crecca L.), red-nosed dives (Aythya rufina Pall.), Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos), gray ducks (Anas stepera stepera L.), and others. A mandatory detail of the lake landscape is Fulica atra atra L.).
But the real beauty and pride of Tigrovaya Balka is Tajik, or black and gold pheasant. In connection with the development of tugai thickets for agricultural land, the range of pheasants in Tajikistan has also decreased. At present, the reserve is almost the only place in the republic where the number of these birds is relatively large.
There were 34 species of mammals living in the tugars of Tigrovaya Balka, currently there are only 33 of them. The lord of the jungle - the Turanian tiger (Felis tigris virgata Matschie) has disappeared. His traces were last noted on March 23, 1953.
Other predators in the reserve are the steppe wolf (Canis lupus campestris Dwigubski), jackal (Canis aureus aureus L.), harp fox (Vulpes vulpes karagan Erxleben), striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena L.) and very rarely reed cat, or house (Felis (Chaus) chaus Güldenstaedt) and others. But the most typical inhabitants of tugai thickets are the jackal and the reed cat.
Unfortunately, the number of predators in the reserve due to anthropogenic influences is very low. Reed cats, for example, have a total of 20-25 individuals.
From rodents in the Tigrovaya Balka one of the exotics of the fauna is found - porcupine (Hystrix leucura satunini Muller).
Currently, nutria (Myocastor coypus Mollina) is found in the lakes of the reserve. For the first time, nutria was introduced here in the autumn of 1949.
In the desert and along its outskirts you can meet a slender antelope - gazelles, and in the thick of the jungle, wild boars make their own paths and tunnels. In the mountains of Khoja Kozian there are wild mouflon sheep.
The Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve is a unique corner of nature, unique to the entire globe. This is a living memory of the relatively recently existing in the vast areas of dense, impenetrable thickets of woody-shrubby vegetation - tugai. The great scientific and educational value of the reserve is invaluable. On the other hand, the preserved corner of the tugai makes it possible to assess the current extent of human influence on nature, on the evolution of the landscapes of our planet.
The Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve is located in Tajikistan, at the confluence of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers. The reserve's area of \u200b\u200babout 50 thousand hectares extends from the Pyanj River in the south and the Kashkakum Deserts to the Khoja-Kozian Range. Received the status of a reserve in 1938.
The tugai forests of the Tigrovaya Balka occupy a significant territory untouched by man. The reserve preserves rare and especially valuable animal species characteristic of tugai - the Bukhara deer. This species is considered endangered, so the state is trying by all means to ensure its safety. In 1954, the last recorded sighting of the Turanian tiger, which is now an extinct species, was on the territory of the reserve.
Throughout Tajikistan, tugai are narrow stripes or small spots of forest thickets along river banks. The reserve is characterized by real arrays of the Tugai jungle, which are significant in size. Their safety is explained by the favorable location of the reserve. Close groundwater on the floodplain terrace, continuously fed and refreshed by river water, as well as periodic spills in the recent past, provide the reserve’s vegetation with moisture throughout the year. The peculiarity of environmental conditions lies in the fact that prolonged summer drought causes a very large dry air. These contrasting ratios of soil and atmospheric moisture characterize the conditions for the existence of tugai vegetation.
Here, in primordial natural conditions, such animals as the red deer hangul, desert antelope gazelle, leopard, reed cat, hyena, black-and-white Tajik pheasant, desert partridge-chill, snake-eagle, wild boar, badger, porcupine live here. Of the reptiles, the Central Asian cobra, gyurza, efa and a large detachment of other non-poisonous snakes are valuable for science and medicine. Rivers and lakes contain such fish as trout, marinka, catfish, snakeheads, common carp, grass carp, and in the lower reaches of the Vakhsh river the oldest relict fish - scafiringus - has been preserved.
The tugai of the Tigrovaya Balka are floodplain forests and for their normal development they need annual flooding as a result of the flood on the rivers. Due to the regulation of the flow of the Vakhsh and Pyanj rivers, natural floods became impossible many years ago and in connection with this there is an artificial flooding, not always sufficient, which threatens the preservation of the reserve.
Ia (Strict Nature Reserve)
Extinct species
In 1954, the last recorded sighting of the Turan tiger was on the territory of the reserve.
International conventions
To the reserve Tiger beam International wetland conventions apply.
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Literature
- Reserves of Central Asia and Kazakhstan / V.E. Sokolova, E.E. Syroechkovsky. - Moscow "Thought", 1990. - 399 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-244-00273-2.
Notes
References
- Bulletin "Ecology and Human Rights" Issue 344, April 15, 2001
- Chris Magin 2005
- - official site
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Excerpt from the Tiger Beam
“Now where do you order?” Asked the coachman."Where to? Pierre asked himself. Where can I go now? Really to the club or the guests? ”All the people seemed so miserable, so poor in comparison with the feeling of tenderness and love that he felt; in comparison with that softened, grateful look with which she last glanced at him from tears.
“Home,” said Pierre, in spite of ten degrees of frost, throwing open a bear coat on his wide, joyfully breathing chest.
It was frosty and clear. Above the dirty, darkened streets, over the black roofs stood a dark, starry sky. Pierre, just looking at the sky, did not feel the insulting baseness of everything earthly in comparison with the height at which his soul was. At the entrance to Arbat Square, a vast expanse of starry dark sky opened up to Pierre's eyes. Almost in the middle of this sky above Prechistensky Boulevard, surrounded by stars, sprinkled on all sides, but different from all the proximity to the earth, white light, and a long tail raised up, there was a huge bright comet of 1812, the same comet that portended as they said, all sorts of horrors and the end of the world. But in Pierre this bright star with a long radiant tail did not arouse any terrible feeling. On the contrary, Pierre joyfully, with his eyes wet with tears, looked at this bright star, which, as if with inexpressible speed flying immeasurable spaces along a parabolic line, suddenly, like a piercing arrow in the ground, slammed into one place it chose, in the black sky, and stopped, vigorously lifting her tail up, glowing and playing with her white light between countless other, twinkling stars. It seemed to Pierre that this star corresponded fully to what was in his blossomed to a new life, softened and encouraged soul.
From the end of 1811, intensified armament and concentration of forces of Western Europe began, and in 1812 these forces - millions of people (counting those who transported and fed the army) moved from West to East, to the borders of Russia, to which it has been the same since 1811 This year the forces of Russia gathered together. On June 12, the forces of Western Europe crossed the borders of Russia, and the war began, that is, an event contrary to human reason and all human nature took place. Millions of people committed, against each other, such countless atrocities, deceptions, betrayals, thefts, falsifications and issuing false bank notes, robberies, arson and murders, which for centuries will not be collected by the annals of all the courts of the world and for which, during this period of time, people who committed them did not look like crimes.
What made this extraordinary event? What were the reasons for it? Historians with naive confidence say that the reasons for this event were the insult inflicted on the Duke of Oldenburg, non-compliance with the continental system, Napoleon's lust for power, Alexander's hardness, mistakes of diplomats, etc.
Therefore, it was worth only Metternich, Rumyantsev or Talleyrand, between the exit and the routine, to carefully try and write a better piece of paper or write Napoleon to Alexander: Monsieur mon frere, je consens a rendre le duche au duc d "Oldenbourg, [Sire, I agree to return the duchy to the Duke of Oldenburg.] - and there would be no war.
The Tigrovaya Balka State Reserve was established in 1938 and is located in the southwest of the Republic of Tajikistan, in floodplains Vakhsh and Panj. The area is 47,409 ha, of which 14,500 ha are forested, 10,700 ha are meadows, 4,030 ha are water bodies.
Protected lands lie on the floodplain and the first floodplain terraces. From the east and south, Karakum sands approach them. The height of the terrain does not exceed 325-330 m above sea level. m. Alluvial deposits are represented by sand, often silty. In the depressions there are lakes, usually with transparent, weakly and medium mineralized water. The largest - Glubokoe, Dedovo, Khalkokul.
In closed lake depressions, sometimes heavy sand loams and clays are found under the sand. The soils of the Vakhsh floodplain terrace are of alluvial-meadow type. Due to the close occurrence of groundwater (from 80 cm to 3 m), intensive evaporation occurs and soil salinization is ongoing. Floods lead to their temporary desalinization. Due to the good accuracy of the groundwater and the light mechanical composition, the processes of waterlogging and gleying of soils are absent.
The climate is continental of the subtropical zone of the southern Turan desert region. It is characterized by long summers, dry air, and warm winters,
Most of Tiger Beams busy with tugai vegetation. Tugay natural complex of the reserve with grass cover of ephemera and ephemeroids; bluegrass, bonfire, desert sedge, poppy, leafworm, bulbous plants, etc., as well as thickets of giant grass, sugarcane, etc .; dense thickets of tamarix and sucker are characteristic.
In the flooded, relatively small part of the floodplain, the cattail communities of small and sugarcane, eryanthus, dominate. There are no trees in this part of the floodplain, since the humidity regime is unfavorable for them (most of the floodplain is flooded once every 2-3 years). Here the so-called savannoid meadows from Eryanthus, smooth licorice, terrestrial reed grass, tugai poplars and sucker develop here. At the highest sites, which are poured once every 10-15 years, Turanga with tamarix and Karabara dominate. The sandy desert complex is represented by lumpy sands, alternating with puffy salt marshes and takyrs. It is characterized by white saxaulians with a Circassian and plan (sedge swollen).
Tiger beam It represents a rich vegetation cover where plants such as coastal, porcupine, cattail, hodgepodge, and others are abundant. Higher aquatic vegetation is represented by species such as urut, combed and curly species, mollusk, etc.
28 species of mammals were recorded in the protected area, including an eared hedgehog, bats, nutria (acclimatized), a Turkestan rat, a small shrew, a red-tailed gerbil, a tolai hare, a jackal, a wolf, a striped hyena, a spotted cat, a wild boar, a reed cat, gazelle and others
143 species of birds were recorded, including Chomga, Heron, Spoonbill, Gray Goose, Whooper Swan, White-fronted Goose, Redfin, Black Stork, Gray Duck, Red-headed Dive, Black Vulture, Vulture, Marsh Harrier, Tuvik, Desert Partridge, Avdotka, Tajik pheasant, bustard, black-bellied hazel grouse, house owl, raven, white-haired and red-haired warblers, desert bullfinch, etc. In the reserve "Tiger beam" there are few reptiles: gray monitor lizard, cobra, skink gecko, sand efa, snake-arrow, snakes, oriental boa chick, and others. Sazan, Bukhara roach, Aral and Turkestan barbel, Syr Darya hurricane, Turkestan gudgeon, catfish and others are found in the reservoirs.
The direction of scientific research of the reserve - study of tugai vegetation; development of methods for protecting and increasing the number of Bukhara deer, gazelles, Tajik pheasant, as well as birds wintering in water bodies.
