Repetek Biosphere State Reserve, often referred to as Repetek Nature or Desert Reserve, ( tk, Repetek goraghanasy, ''Репетек горагханасы'') is a

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

(''

zapovednik Zapovednik (russian: заповедник, plural , from the Russian , 'sacred, prohibited from disturbance, committed o protect committed o heritage; ) is an established term on the territory of the former Soviet Union for a protected area whi ...

'') of

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

, located in

Lebap Province Lebap Region ( tk, Lebap welaýaty/Лебап велаяты from the Persian ''Lab-e āb'') is one of the regions of Turkmenistan. It is in the northeast of the country, bordering Afghanistan, Uzbekistan along the Amu Darya. Its capital is T ...

, East

Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : "d ...

, near

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...

. It is located approximately south from

Türkmenabat Türkmenabat ( tk, Türkmenabat, Түркменабат), formerly and since medieval times Chardzhou, (russian: Чарджоу, ''Chardzhou''; tk, Çärjew, links=no, ) ( fa, چهارجوی 'čahârjuy', meaning 'four brooks') and in ancient ti ...

and is known for its ''zemzen'' (desert monitor which is ''

Varanus griseus The desert monitor (''Varanus griseus'') is a species of monitor lizard of the order Squamata found living throughout North Africa and Central and South Asia. The desert monitor is carnivorous, feeding on a wide range of vertebrates and invert ...

''). Established in 1928 for the study and preservation of a sand-desert ecosystem, it covers an area of .

Geography

The landscape of the reserve is arid, with extensive ridged sand dunes some in height and in length in many areas, large areas of sand dune and valley-like depressions. Black saxaul (''Haloxylon aphyllum''), rare to most part of Central Asia covers more than , approximately 4.5% of the territory of the reserve. The soils have sandy subsoils, but some "21 trees, 104 grasses, 8 mushrooms, 1 moss, 68 soil algae and 197 fungi" grow within the reserve.

History

The Repetek sandy desert scientific station was organized in 1912 by the decision of the

Russian Geographical Society The Russian Geographical Society (russian: Ру́сское географи́ческое о́бщество «РГО»), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection wi ...

, and the reserve was established in 1928 on the base of the scientific station. During the Soviet period the reserve belongs to the Institute of Deserts of the Turkmen SSR Academy of Sciences. The list of scientific publications concerning with the Repetek sandy desert station and the biosphere reserve since 1982 to 1991 consists of about 250 papers (30% on landscape structure and geography, 20% on botany and 50% on zoology). The Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan was established in 1962 to study ways of reclaiming desert land for economic use in the reserve.Encyclopædia Britannica
/ref> A museum is present at the site.

Environmental protection

The Repetek Biosphere State Reserve is part of an

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 since 1979 has been an under the monitoring of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

but "the site is under the administration of the Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan". The reserve "supports the most complete assemblage of bird species typical of the sand desert of the Karakum" and "has an important population of Goitered Gazelle (''Gazella subgutturosa'') which is listed as Vulnerable (VU) in the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Climate

Repetek Biosphere State Reserve has a

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''BWk''), with cool winters and very hot summers. Rainfall is generally light and erratic, and occurs mainly in the winter and autumn months. On 28 July 1983, Repetek Biosphere State Reserve recorded a temperature of , which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Turkmenistan and the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and higher than the record high temperatures ever recorded for Europe or South America.

Notes

References

*''National Program for the Protection of the Environment'', Ashgabat, 2002, pp. 149–151 * *

External links

*
Image
Flickr {{Nature reserves of Turkmenistan Nature reserves in Turkmenistan Protected areas established in 1927 Biosphere reserves of Turkmenistan World Heritage Tentative List