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").
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.
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.
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.