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Iskanderkul
Iskanderkul (russian: Искандеркуль; tg, Искандаркӯл) is a mountain lake of glacial origin in Tajikistan's Sughd Province. It lies at an altitude of on the northern slopes of the Gissar Range in the Fann Mountains. Triangular in shape, it has a surface area of and is up to deep. Formed by a landslide that blocks the Saratogh river, the outflow of the lake is called the Iskander Darya, which joins the Yaghnob River to form the Fan Darya, a major left tributary of the Zeravshan River. 134 km from Dushanbe and 23 km from the Dushanbe—Khujand road, Iskanderkul is a popular tourist destination. The lake takes its name from Alexander the Great's passage in Tajikistan: ''Iskander'' is the Persian pronunciation of Alexander, and ''kul'' means lake in many Turkic languages. There are two legends connecting the lake to Alexander. The first one states it used to be a location the inhabitants of which resisted Alexander's rule, and in fury, the king or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fan Darya
The Fan Darya (russian: Фандарья) is a river in Ayni District of Sughd Region, Tajikistan. The Fan Darya is long (140 km including its source river Yaghnob (river), Yaghnob), and the area of its drainage basin is . It is a major left tributary of the Zeravshan (river), Zeravshan.Фандарья Great Soviet Encyclopedia The Fan Darya is formed at the confluence of the rivers Yaghnob (river), Yaghnob, which flows west from the Yaghnob Valley, and the Iskander Darya, which has its source in Iskanderkul, Lake Iskanderkul and flows east. Both the Yaghnob and the Iskander Darya drain the valleys between the Zeravshan Range to the north, the Gissar Range to the south and the Fan Mountains to the west. The Fan Darya flows north, crosses the Zeravshan Range and joins the river Zeravshan near the town Ayni, Ayni District, Ayni. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fann Mountains
The Fann Mountains ( tg, Кӯҳҳои Фон) are part of the western Pamir-Alay mountain system in Tajikistan's Sughd Province, between the Zarafshan Range to the north and the Gissar Range to the south. In an east-west direction, they extend from the Fan Darya to the Archimaydan River. Peaks, lakes and access The Fanns boast about a hundred peaks, with several rising to altitudes of more than 5,000 meters and relative elevations of up to 1,500 meters. The highest point in Fann Mountains is Chimtarga peak (5,489 m). Other 5,000-meter peaks are Bodkhona (5,138 m), Chapdara (5,050 m), Big Hansa, Little Hansa (5,031 m), Zamok ('5,070 m), Mirali (5,132 m), and Energia (5,120 m). There are many lakes in the Fanns.The best known are Alaudin lakes in the Chapdara River valley, Kulikalon Lakes on the northern slope of Chimtarga peak, Big Allo Lake and Iskanderkul Lake. There is a stunning mountain range in Western Tajikistan, near the city of Punjikent, which surprises tourists with i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iskander Darya
The Iskander Darya (russian: Искандердарья; tg, Искандардарё) is a river in Ayni District of Sughd Region, Tajikistan. The Iskander Darya is long, and the area of its drainage basin is long. It is the left source river of the Fan Darya.Фандарья The Iskander Darya has its source in Lake Iskanderkul and flows east. The mouth of Iskander Darya is near the village of Zarafshan II. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Central Asia. It has an area of and an estimated population of 9,749,625 people. Its capital and largest city is Dushanbe. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east. It is separated narrowly from Pakistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. The traditional homelands of the Tajiks include present-day Tajikistan as well as parts of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The territory that now constitutes Tajikistan was previously home to several ancient cultures, including the city of Sarazm of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including the Oxus civilization, Andronovo culture, Buddhism, Nestorian Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sub-alpine
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial factor in shaping plant community, biodiversity, metabolic processes and ecosystem dynamics for montane ecosystems. Dense montane forests are common at moderate elevations, due to moderate temperatures and high rainfall. At higher elevations, the climate is harsher, with lower temperatures and higher winds, preventing the growth of trees and causing the plant community to transition to montane grasslands and shrublands, montane grasslands, shrublands or alpine tundra. Due to the unique climate conditions of montane ecosystems, they contain increased numbers of endemic species. Montane ecosystems also exhibit variation in ecosystem services, which include carbon storage and water supply. Life zones As elevation increases, the al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding important sites for birds, maintaining and restoring key bird habitats, and empowering conservationists worldwide. It has a membership of more than 2.5 million people across 116 country partner organizations, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wild Bird Society of Japan, the National Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy. BirdLife International has identified 13,000 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is the official International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List authority for birds. As of 2015, BirdLife International has established that 1,375 bird species (13% of the total) are threatened with extinction ( critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable). BirdLife International p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International. There are over 13,000 IBAs worldwide. These sites are small enough to be entirely conserved and differ in their character, habitat or ornithological importance from the surrounding habitat. In the United States the Program is administered by the National Audubon Society. Often IBAs form part of a country's existing protected area network, and so are protected under national legislation. Legal recognition and protection of IBAs that are not within existing protected areas varies within different countries. Some countries have a National IBA Conservation Strategy, whereas in others protection is completely lacking. History In 1985, following a specific request from the European Economic Community, Birdlife International ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by humans, and is driven primarily by the availability of food. It occurs mainly in the northern hemisphere, where birds are funneled onto specific routes by natural barriers such as the Mediterranean Sea or the Caribbean Sea. Migration of species such as storks, turtle doves, and swallows was recorded as many as 3,000 years ago by Ancient Greek authors, including Homer and Aristotle, and in the Book of Job. More recently, Johannes Leche began recording dates of arrivals of spring migrants in Finland in 1749, and modern scientific studies have used techniques including bird ringing and satellite tracking to trace migrants. Threats to migratory birds have grown with habitat destruction, especially of stopover and wintering sites, as wel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Himalayan Snowcock
The Himalayan snowcock (''Tetraogallus himalayensis'') is a snowcock in the pheasant family Phasianidae found across the Himalayan ranges and parts of the adjoining Pamir range of Asia. It is found on alpine pastures and on steep rocky cliffs where they will dive down the hill slopes to escape. It overlaps with the slightly smaller Tibetan snowcock in parts of its wide range. The populations from different areas show variations in the colouration and about five subspecies have been designated. They were introduced in the mountains of Nevada in the United States in the 1960s and a wild population has established in the Ruby Mountains. Description The Himalayan snowcock is a large grey partridge-like bird, in length and weighing .''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), . The head pattern has a resemblance to that of the smaller and well marked chukar partridge. The white throat and sides of the head are bordered by chestnut moustac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gissar Range
Hisar Range ( tg, Қаторкӯҳи Ҳисор; uz, Hisor tizmasi, russian: Гиссарский хребет; uk, Ґаторкугі Гісор; fa, رشتهکوه حصار; also known as Hissar, Hisor, or Gissar Range) is a mountain range in Central Asia, in the western part of the Pamir-Alay system, stretching over 200 km in the general east–west direction across the territory of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Geography The Hisar Range lies south of the Zarafshon Range, extending north of Dushanbe through Tajikistan's Hissar District of the Districts of Republican Subordination and reaching Uzbekistan at the north tip of Surxondaryo Region. The highest point in the Hissar Range at is located in Uzbekistan on the border with Tajikistan, just north-west of Dushanbe. Formerly known as ''Peak of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party'', the Khazret Sultan is also the highest point in all Uzbekistan. The Hissar Range is composed of crystalline rocks, schist, and sandst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saker Falcon
The saker falcon (''Falco cherrug'') is a large species of falcon. This species breeds from central Europe eastwards across the Palearctic to Manchuria. It is mainly migratory except in the southernmost parts of its range, wintering in Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula, northern Pakistan and western China. The saker falcon is the national bird of Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, and Mongolia. Taxonomy and systematics This species belongs to the close-knit hierofalcon complex. In this group, there is ample evidence for rampant hybridization and incomplete lineage sorting which confounds analyses of DNA sequence data to a massive extent; molecular studies with small sample sizes can simply not be expected to yield reliable conclusions in the entire hierofalcon group. The radiation of the entire living diversity of hierofalcons seems to have taken place in the Eemian interglacial at the start of the Late Pleistocene, a mere 130,000–115,000 years ago; the saker falcon represents ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as fire. A stable state may be maintained by regular natural disturbance such as fire or browsing. Shrubland may be unsuitable for human habitation because of the danger of fire. The term was coined in 1903. Shrubland species generally show a wide range of adaptations to fire, such as heavy seed production, lignotubers, and fire-induced germination. Botanical structural form In botany and ecology a shrub is defined as a much-branched woody plant less than 8 m high and usually with many stems. Tall shrubs are mostly 2–8 m high, small shrubs 1–2 m high and su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
