The Bogeda Biosphere Reserve (, mn, Богд шим мандлын нөөц газар, Bogd shim mandlyn noots gazar), also known in English as Bogda Biosphere Reserve, is located in the eastern region of the

Tianshan Mountains The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...

in China's

Xinjiang Province Xinjiang Province is a historical administrative area of Northwest China, between 1884 and 1955. Periods during which various boundaries of Xinjiang Province have been defined include: * Xinjiang Province (Qing) (1884–1912). * Xinjiang Provin ...

. Local residents named the area the Sangong River Valley after one of the largest rivers in this region, which originates from Bogda Peak. Altogether, five major landscapes are distributed throughout the northern and southern areas of the biosphere reserve: ice-snow belts (5,445–3,100 meters above sea level), alpine and sub-alpine meadow belts (3,100–2,500 meters asl), forest belts (2,500–1,600 meters asl), steppe belts (1,700–900 meters asl) and sand desert dunes (460–3,300 meters asl). The topography consists of a middle mountain belt, low mountain erosion hills and alluvial areas.

Tianchi Lake Tianchi (天池) may refer to several locations in China: Lakes Heaven Lake primarily refers to the crater lake of Mount Baekdu, on the Sino–North Korean border Heaven Lake is the translation of a Chinese, Mongolian, Manju, Korean, etc. na ...

is the only natural lake in the region and lies adjacent to the Sangong River.

Ecology

The Bogeda Biosphere Reserve is situated within the temperate continental arid climate zone. Different habitat types range from snowy landscapes to meadows, steppe and sand dunes, offering ideal circumstances for the development of a rich biodiversity. Alpine and sub-alpine landscapes with Koresia capilliformis and perennial herbaceous cover approximately 80% of the area. The low plain lingo halophyte vegetation desert zone contains flora species such as Suaeda physophora and Halostachys caspica. Characteristic fauna species include ''Ciconia nigra'' (

Black stork The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, t ...

), ''Buteo rufinus'' (

Long-legged buzzard The long-legged buzzard (''Buteo rufinus'') is a bird of prey found widely in several parts of Eurasia and in North Africa. This species ranges from Southeastern Europe down to East Africa to the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The long ...

) and ''Felis lynx'' (

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an eleva ...

). However, numerous endangered or threatened animal species within the biosphere reserve struggle for survival, including ''Falco subbuteo'' (

Eurasian hobby The Eurasian hobby (''Falco subbuteo'') or just hobby, is a small, slim falcon. It belongs to a rather close-knit group of similar falcons often considered a subgenus '' Hypotriorchis''. Taxonomy and systematics The first formal description of ...

) and ''Gazella subgutturosa'' ( Black-tailed gazelle) among others. The region is also home to species of commercial or traditional importance, such as ''Cistanche salsa'', which grows in desert habitats and is used for

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...

Socio-economic characteristics

About 134,000 people inhabit the Bogeda biosphere reserve permanently, while over 410,000 people visit on a seasonal basis. The main economic activities are livestock, agriculture and tourism. The majority of inhabitants are

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

Chinese (80%) with

Hui The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...

(5%), Kazakh (4%) and Uygur (4%) populations also living in the reserve. The nearest major town is

Fukang City Fukang is a county-level city in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Its area is and its population in 2007 was reported as approximately 1.5 million. Fukang is located in Northern Xinjiang in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, north of Ür ...

, located in the transition zone. Since the 1960s, the underground freshwater table has deepened, while the underground salt water table has risen. The result has been serious soil salinization and erosion, which hinders the cultivation of agricultural products. The Tianchi Lake, located in the core area on the mountains, is a Taoist shrine and constitutes the main cultural and traditional site of the Bogeda Biosphere Reserve.

References

{{Free-content attribution, , title = UNESCO - MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory , author = , publisher = UNESCO , source= , documentURL = http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/biosphere-reserves/asia-and-the-pacific/china/bogeda/ , License statement URL = http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/biosphere-reserves/world-network-wnbr/wnbr/ , license = CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0 Biosphere reserves of China Protected areas established in 1990 Xinjiang Western China