In our article we want to talk about the wonderful Primorsky Territory. It is located in Russia, in the very south of the Far East. This land is beautiful. Here the waters of the ocean meet the taiga. Here live animals that you will not find anywhere else. On this amazing land is the Far East Marine Reserve. He is faced with the task of preserving the unique nature of Peter the Great Bay.
Far Eastern Marine Reserve: geographic location
As we have already said, the reserve is located in the Primorsky Territory. To be more precise, it occupies part of the territory of the Khasansky and Pervomaisky districts of the city of Vladivostok on Popov Island. The area of the protected area is more than sixty-four thousand hectares, together with the water area, consisting of eleven islands.
I must say that the Far East Marine Reserve consists of fourcompletely different and disjointed areas, each with its own security regime.
Reserved Areas
East region - the center of the reserve. There are practically no people here, the removal of absolutely all living organisms is prohibited.
Southern region - scientific and experimental. Research work is carried out here, primarily related to the restoration and conservation of populations of individual species of animals.
The Western region was originally separated in order to grow young seaside scallops in order to restore their numbers in nature. At present, when biological marine resources have been significantly damaged, the protected area should become a source of replenishment of animals.
The northern region is busy with educational activities. Ecological institutions function here for the training activities of tourist groups and guests of the reserve.
Climate
Where is the Far Eastern Marine Reserve, we found out. Let's talk about climate now. In the area of the protected zone, it is monsoonal in nature with pronounced strong winds. The zone of interaction between the ocean and the mainland has a direct impact on the climate. Winters here have little snow, and summers are quite warm with rains, fogs and storms. In August, the average temperature is twenty-one degrees. In winter, the waters of the protected area are similar to the Arctic in temperature, and in summer - with the subtropics.
Far Eastern Marine Reserve: Animals
The Far East Reserve is distinguished by the diversity of marine communities, which are considered the richest in the seas of Russia. Here, the waters of cold and warm currents are mixed, which have become home to more than 1200 species of plants and animals. Among them are both subtropical and boreal. The Far East Marine Reserve is rich in marine invertebrates. These are molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms.
Huge underwater boulders are completely covered with anemones, there are sea urchins and one and a half meter king crabs. There are many scallops on sandy silted ground. The whole bottom is full of starfish. The underwater world of the reserve is beautiful and reminiscent of a fairy tale.
As for vertebrates, they are represented by 200 species of fish alone. Tu also contains amphibians and reptiles. There are more than 390 species of birds in the reserve, and 35 species of mammals.
Fish and reptiles
The main part of the fish are demersal and demersal species. Moreover, there are also subtropical ones: flying fish, hedgehog fish, large dolphin, mackerel tuna, moonfish. Here you can even meet furry-headed blennies. The katran shark also lives in the waters of the reserve.
In open places, such representatives of the subtropics as anchovy, half-winged, yellowtail settled down. Of the two hundred molluscs living in the reserve, seven are listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation.
Of the reptiles in this region, the Japanese snake and the patterned snake live. But the presence of poisonous snakes was not observed. Once in the waters of the protected area, a sea snake (large krait) was found, which is an inhabitant of purely tropical waters.
Mammals of the reserve
From the small mammals on the islands live field mice, lesser shrew, Far Eastern vole. But from predators here you can meet a raccoon dog, a column, an ordinary fox.
As for marine mammals, seals are of particular interest. Their rookeries are located on Cape Lva and are very heavily guarded, since the Far East Marine Reserve is the only place where these cute animals raise and reproduce their cubs. There are also whales here: minke whale, sei whale, northern swimmer, dolphin.
Birds of the marine reserve
The Far Eastern Marine Reserve (photos are given in the article) is rich in birds. Almost 390 species live here. It should be noted that nowhere else in the Far East is there such diversity. The main part of the local birds are wintering, nomadic and migratory. There are especially many sea cormorants, guillemots, and gulls in the reserve. And on the island of Furogelm there is the largest colony of black-tailed gulls in the world. Rare gray herons also breed here.
In general, many birds have found shelter here due to the fact that this is a protected area, and they are completely safe here.
Flora
The marine reserve has a rich and heterogeneous flora. On the islands, plant communities have perfectly adapted to unusual marine environments.conditions. Indeed, for thousands of years, plants have developed in complete isolation from the mainland, but they survived and were able to get used to new living conditions.
The slopes and peaks of the islands are covered with deciduous forests. There are lindens, oaks, ash trees, hornbeam, lilacs, cherries and even the famous yew. A large number of cherries give the lands an oriental flavor. After all, they look like sakura. The peculiarity of the forests of the protected area is that they have a small height and very low density. Strong winds prevail here, there is not enough moisture, and therefore it makes the trees cling to the ground and bush. Only fir trunks rise above all this abundance. Shrub species, large fern plants grow luxuriantly under the trees.
The bays of the mainland and the slopes are covered with densely flowered pine groves. This type of pine is notable for growing on bare rocks, in places where no other trees can grow.
There are one hundred and seventy species of algae in the reserve. The dominant underwater plants are kelp, dichloria, costaria. Many plants of the marine reserve are listed in the Red Book. Such species are protected.
Security activities
Protection of the reserve is a special topic. A specialized division was created back in 1979, a year after the foundation of the protected area itself.
The department is engaged in the protection of territories, suppresses attacks by poachers. Its main task is to detain offenders and prevent them fromharmful activities on protected lands. The inaccessibility of territories makes them inaccessible, which facilitates the work of the guards.
This is such an amazing Far Eastern Marine Reserve. Briefly, we talked about its main beauties. This is an amazing and unique place, amazing with a variety of flora and fauna.
