Orenburgsky Nature Reserve, Russia

The Orenburgsky Nature Reserve is a state nature reserve of federal significance. The idea of ​​organizing the Orenburgsky reserve appeared in the early twenties of the XX century. In 1975, an expedition from the Research Institute for Nature Conservation discovered a section of pristine steppe in the southeastern part of the Kuvandyk region. The Orenburg State Nature Reserve was established on May 12, 1989. The purpose of creating the reserve is to preserve and restore the unique steppe landscapes of several adjacent territories at once - the Trans-Volga, Cis-Urals, Southern Urals and Trans-Urals. In 2015, the territory of the reserve was expanded by 76% due to the addition of the fifth section “Pre-Ural Steppe”.

The Orenburgsky Nature Reserve is a part of the joint directorate of the Orenburgsky and Shaitan-Tau State Nature Reserves (Federal State Budgetary Institution "Orenburgsky Nature Reserves").

 

Territory

The reserve includes five isolated areas located in five municipal districts of the Orenburg region: in Pervomaisky - Talovskaya Steppe (3200 hectares), Belyaevsky - Burtinskaya Steppe (4500 hectares), Kuvandyksky - Aituarskaya Steppe (6753 hectares), Svetlinsky - "Ashisay steppe" (7200 hectares), Akbulak and Belyaevsky areas - "Pre-Ural steppe" (16538 hectares). The total area of ​​the reserve is 38,191 hectares. On the territory of the reserve there are many historical and archaeological monuments, among which the leading place is occupied by the burial mounds belonging to the Sarmatian culture of the 7th-3rd centuries. BC.

Of the 103 Russian reserves, only 10 steppe areas occupy a significant proportion of the area, and in 12-14 there are minor steppe fragments tied to specific substrates or relief positions. In the Orenburgsky reserve, steppes occupy more than 90% of the total area of ​​the protected areas, so it can rightfully be called the most steppe reserve in Russia.

 

Climate

The reserve is characterized by a dry, continental climate. The average annual air temperature is 2.5 ° C. The frost-free period lasts 130 days. Annual precipitation ranges from 250 to 390 mm.

 

Flora and fauna

General review
The territory of the reserve is characterized by high biological diversity. The flora of the reserve and its environs (protected zone) has 1350 species of higher vascular plants belonging to 110 families and 517 genera. Directly on the territory of the reserve, about 800 species of higher vascular plants have been identified, which is 48.7% of the floristic wealth of the Orenburg region, 53 species of bryophytes, 180 species of lichens and 58 species of macromycete fungi.

Among the representatives of the flora of the reserve there are many species belonging to the category of rare and endangered species. Of the total number of plants growing in the reserve, 23 species are listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. Of the 148 species of angiosperms listed in the regional Red Book (Resolution of the Government of the Orenburg Region, 2014), 68 species are found on the territory of the reserve.

By the nature of vegetation, the territory of the reserve is included in the Eurasian steppe region, the Kazakhstan province, the Trans-Volga-Ural sub-province, legumes, sedges and crucifers. Among life forms, perennial herbaceous plants are in the lead (about 70%). Significantly fewer shrubs - about 4.5%. Of the shrubs, the dominant position is occupied by chiliga, bean, crenate spirea, steppe cherry, black cotoneaster. Youngsters are relatively richly represented - over 10%. The share of trees is very insignificant and barely reaches 0.5%. The main forest-forming species are sticky alder (black), warty birch and aspen; willow trees, black and white poplar are much less common.

Many species are valuable food, medicinal and ornamental plants: two-spike ephedra, common hops, celandine large, blood-red hawthorn, medicinal valerian, nettle, medicinal burnet, dog rose and cinnamon rose, steppe cherry, etc.

The flora of higher vascular plants is characterized by clearly expressed endemism and relict nature. From the complex of rocky-mountain-steppe endemics in the reserve there are Ural carnations, Helm's astragalus and Karelin, silver-leaved pennyweed, hoarfrost wheatgrass, Bashkir resins, Ural larkspur, spiked larkspur, etc. At least 10 species of relict plants grow on the territory of the reserve. The relict species of “open” habitats, preserved from the pre-glacial period, are desert oats, the sun clauses, and the Siberian istod. Rocky and mountain-steppe relics of mountain-Asian origin include Altai resin, prickly mountain grate, hybrid sedum, Altai and weak toadflax, silk cinquefoil.

The vegetation cover is formed by several types of vegetation and their complexes. The distribution of vegetation depends entirely on the relief, the degree of moisture and salinity. About 95% of the reserve is occupied by herbaceous types of vegetation. The zonal type of vegetation is steppe, where the main communities are true sod-grass steppes. The dominant position in them is occupied by the feather grass of Lessing, Zalessky, red, tyrsa, fescue, and steppe bluegrass.

In humid basins, meadow-type vegetation is formed, the main cenose-forming of which is the most beautiful feather grass.

Rocky steppes are characteristic of the tops and slopes of hills, mainly of southern exposures.

 

A characteristic feature of the territory of the reserve is the strong salinity of soils, on which plant complexes of the desert type are formed. In combination with areas of true and stony steppes, they form solonetzic-steppe complexes, the main coenosis-formers of which are a special group of plants that have adapted to life on highly saline soils. These are the so-called halophytes, or succulents: kermek

Gmelin and Caspian, high goniolimon, black wormwood and saltwort, herbaceous saltwort, sarsazan, various types of saltwort.

Thickets of steppe shrubs (steppe cherry, spirea crenate and St. John's wort, low almonds, caragana shrubs, etc.) are found along runoff hollows and slopes of ridges of northern exposures.

Forest vegetation is represented by black alder groves, birch and birch-aspen groves. Fragments of forest vegetation occupy the bottoms of wide gullies, valleys of small rivers and streams. Forest-forming species are warty birch, sticky alder (black) and aspen.

The fauna of the reserve is typical for the Orenburg region. Along with the steppe species of animals (steppe harrier, steppe kestrel, little bustard, demoiselle crane, mole vole, steppe marmot, etc.), there are many species in the reserve that are characteristic of the broad-leaved forest zone (common hedgehog, forest mouse, badger, common kestrel, wood pigeon , clintuch, scops owl, black grouse, etc.). Representatives of semi-deserts (lesser lark, long-eared hedgehog) sometimes coexist with tundra species (snowy owl).

The modern fauna of the protected area is represented by the following species composition: mammals - 56 species, birds - 231 species, reptiles - 9 species, amphibians - 7 species, fish - 7 species, insects - 2176 species.

Among the fauna of the reserve, many species are classified as rare and endangered species. Of the total number of animals living in the reserve, 98 species are listed in the Red Data Books of Russia and the Orenburg Region and the IUCN Red List: mammals - 3 species, birds - 55 species, reptiles - 3 species, insects - 51 species.

21 species of mammals are common to all parts of the reserve. Among them are the lesser gopher, steppe marmot, common vole, steppe mouse, steppe pika, hare, wolf, common fox, corsac, badger, weasel, steppe polecat, Siberian roe deer.

In terms of species diversity among the mammals of the reserve, representatives of insectivores and rodents, which are widespread in the Orenburg region, prevail. Among insectivores, the common hedgehog, the common and small shrew, and the white-bellied shrew are common, which are found mainly in shrub and forest-steppe biotopes with a sufficient degree of moisture.

Rodents are represented by species from the families of squirrel, beaver, hamster, mouse and jerboa. The common vole, the mole vole, the steppe mouse, and the wood mouse are widespread. A typical species for the reserve is the steppe marmot. Beaver lives in small numbers along the streams. On the shores of fire reservoirs, water voles and muskrat are found.

From the order of bats on the territory of the reserve, 7 species of the family of smooth-nosed were noted: baleen, water and pond bat, brown long-eared bat, red noch, late and two-colored kozhany. A common species is a two-tone leather that forms colonies in cracks of quartzite rocks and outbuildings. There is no modern information on the finding of other species in the reserve.

Of the representatives of the order of Lagomorphs, the European hare is ubiquitous. Among the placers of stones and thickets of steppe shrubs along ravines and hollows on the slopes, the steppe pika lives.

The most common predatory mammals are the common fox, corsac, badger, weasel, and steppe polecat. These are sedentary inhabitants. The wolf is more often observed on roaming sites. In the summer of 2007, for the first time in the reserve, traces of a brown bear were noted. The “uninvited guest” lived for a long time in the birch-aspen groves of the “Burtinskaya Steppe” site.

The largest mammals of the protected areas - ungulates - are few in the reserve. Elk, roe deer, wild boar and saiga are found.

Since 2015, the only program in Russia to create a semi-free population of the Przewalski horse, which has disappeared from the wild, has been implemented on the territory of the reserve.

 

This is the first project in Russia and the twelfth in the world to return Przewalski's horses to their natural habitats. To implement the project, on July 13, 2015, the territory of the former military training ground, located on the border of the Belyaevsky and Akbulaksky districts of the Orenburg region, was added to the Orenburgsky nature reserve. On the new site, named "Pre-Ural Steppe", the Przhevalsky Horse Reintroduction Center was built and work began on creating a population of wild horses in the natural conditions of the Orenburg region. On October 18, 2015, a significant event took place in Russia - the first group of Przhevalsky horses (6 individuals), the founders of the future population of the species that disappeared from the wild, arrived from France to the Orenburgsky State Nature Reserve. On November 20, 2016, two more groups of horses, 14 individuals, arrived from Hungary. Until 2030, it is planned to create a stable, self-reproducing population of about 150 animals in the reserved steppe. Thus, scientists plan to restore the disappeared herds of wild horses, which 200 years ago roamed freely across the vast expanses of the Orenburg region.

The bird fauna of the Orenburgsky Reserve is represented by European, Mediterranean and Mongolian faunistic complexes. The background is the views of the European and Mongolian complexes. Most of the representatives of the European complex are dendrophilic. Among them are the burial eagle, the wood pigeon, the common turtledove, the common starling, the gray flycatcher, and the meadow stamp. Among the representatives of the Mongolian complex, the reserve is inhabited by the steppe eagle, long-legged buzzard, demoiselle crane, shelled, ogar, and bustard. Mediterranean is less pronounced. Of the typical birds in the reserve, the little bustard, the golden bee-eater, the steppe lark, and the black wheatear live.

The avifauna reaches the maximum diversity during the spring and autumn migrations, when migratory bird species join the nesting species, among which there are many species that are not typical of the steppe zone: shilokbeak, avdotka, red-breasted goose, gray goose, white-fronted goose, bean goose, white-fronted goose, golden plover.

There are 128 bird species nesting in the reserve.

In winter, despite the harsh conditions, there are more than 20 species of birds: sparrowhawk, black grouse, gray partridge, great and lesser spotted woodpeckers, hooded crow, long-tailed and great tit, common nuthatch and common bunting, white owl, black and horned lark , magpie, common bullfinch, snow bunting, etc.

Of the globally rare, endangered species of animals in Europe, included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 9 bird species are registered on the territory of the reserve - the Dalmatian pelican, Lesser White-fronted Goose, Red-breasted Goose, Great Spotted Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Imperial Eagle, Saker Falcon, Great Bustard, and Scrap-fish ...

The herpetofauna of the reserve has 16 species, including 9 reptiles and 7 amphibians, among which there are no species included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the IUCN Red List. Three species - patterned snake, multi-colored lizard and common copperhead - are included in the Red Book of the Orenburg region. Common in the reserve are the steppe viper, common snake, nimble and viviparous lizards, and marsh turtle.

Of the amphibians, the green toad, marsh and pond frogs are quite common, less often the red-bellied toad, the gray toad and the sharp-faced frog.

The reservoirs of the reserve are inhabited by 7 species of fish common for the region from three orders - carp, perch and pike. In the lakes, there are gold and silver carp, carp, roach (path), common pinch, perch and pike.

At present, the list of insects noted in the reserve numbers 2,176 species, and is constantly growing. Many insects living in the reserve are not found in cultural landscapes at all or almost never. These include a number of ground beetles from the genera Carabus, Taphoxenus, Chlenius, Cymindis, Bronzes from the genus Potosia, longhorn beetles from the genus Root-eaters, leaf beetles from the genera of latent heads and chrysomelus, Cleon weevils, Ascalafus varicoloured, common mantis and many others. Typical steppe species form the core of the reserve's entomofauna. A significant role is also played by representatives of other zones and species living in intrazonal biotopes - lakes, streams, tamed woods, gully pegs, thanks to which aquatic, near-water and forest fauna is abundantly represented in the reserve.

In 2017, 12 mares and 4 bachelor stallions of the Przewalski horse were brought from Hungary to the reserve.