Lake Žuvintas is a shallow lake in Alytus district, central

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. Area of Žuvintas Lake is 965 ha. It is the shallowest lake in Lithuania with the greatest depth 3 m and average only 0.6 m. It is a paradise for water

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

, but also faces danger of becoming a

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

Nature reserve

It is a strictly protected reserve. It is first Nature Reserve in Lithuania, established by an outstanding Lithuanian naturalist and ornithologist professor Tadas Ivanauskas (1882–1970) in 1937. Žuvintas Strict Nature Reserve was enrolled into the International list of Designated Wetlands and Shallow Waters of International Importance ( Ramsar Convention) since 1993. Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve has the status of

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 Int ...

(IBA) and Site of Community Importance (SAC) in compliance with the established criteria for European conservation territories of natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora since 2004. In 2011 it has become a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

References

External links

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Official site of Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve
Zuvintas Important Bird Areas of Lithuania Ramsar sites in Lithuania {{AlytusCounty-geo-stub