Documents

The Khazarskiy State Nature Reserve, the Caspian Group of the IUCN Joint SSC-WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan; e-mail address: mammedowmerdan514@gmail.com

ОЦЕНКА НАЦИОНАЛЬНОГО ПОТЕНЦИАЛА КАЗАХСТАНА ДЛЯ ВЫПОЛНЕНИЯ МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫХ ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ КОНВЕНЦИЙ

Вестник АГТУ 

Отчет по показателям по биоразнообразию Казахстана

The data of long-term ecological studies (1999–2014) are used for assessing the impact of a new Caspian invader Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz, 1865 on marine and anadromous fish species. The introduction of the ctenophore and its massive development in the Caspian Sea have mainly affected planktophagous fish, especially the most abundant species anchovy sprat (Clupeonella engrauliformis Borodin, 1904) and sturgeons (Family Acipenseridae). Mnemiopsis leidyi is one of the main negative factors preventing the restoration of the populations of Caspian fishes, especially anchovy tyulka. The critical state of the resources of the spawning parts of sturgeon populations (Family Acipenseridae) has been reinforced as a result of the massive development of M. leidyi.

The Red Data Book of Turkmenistan

Volume 1: Plants and Fungi Ed. 3rd, Revised and updated — Ashgabat: Turkmenistan, 2011. — 288 pp.

The Book contains data on 115 species of plants, described in the articles with the reference to the status, category, importance for the gene pool preservation, brief description, distribution, habitat, number, biological peculiarities, limiting factors, information on the introduction in cultivation, applied and proposed conservation actions, as well research proposals.

The contents of the book includes 3 species of Fungi (Eumycota), 5 species of Lichens, 2 species of Bryophyta, 8 species of Polypodiophyta, 97 species of Magnolyophyta (Anglosperms). Each article is supported by a picture and a graphic map of the species distribution in Turkmenistan. The Book is intended for nature protection services, specialists in the field of botany and ecology, teachers and students of higher educational institutions and secondary schools as well as the broad range of readers interested in the country’s flora.

The seal is the only marine mammal in the Caspian Sea, feeding on tulkas and other small fish, and preyed upon by land animals. It is an endemic species for the Caspian Sea and is vulnerable on that point of view. During its life history the Caspian seal migrates from the frozen North Caspian waters in the winter to the South Caspian in the summer timer and back to the North to give birth to the pups on the ice. During these migration time the seals can be found everywhere in the sea.

Active conservation efforts will be required to assure the Caspian seal does not eliminate from the Earth. As a major mammal, anchoring one end of the food web, it also plays an important role in the biodiversity of the Caspian Sea and is a remarkable indicator of the Caspian ecosystems health.

The main focus of review: To determine the Status of invasive species with special attention to the most aggressive invader Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Caspian Sea.

Objectives:

1. To assess vectors, pathways of invasive species introduction, their composition and their role in the Caspian ecosystem.

2. To analyze seasonal and interannual dynamics of the Mnemiopsis leidyi population in the all areas of the Caspian Sea; its impacts on the Caspian ecosystem including food recourses (zooplankton) and fish stocks along with other emerging environmental threats such as increased nutrient load from the coast, structural and quantitative changes in phyto-and-zooplankton communities, the appearance of harmful algal bloom (HAB) in the Southern Caspian.

3. To prepare recommendations for follow-up actions on invasive species management: - for the protection and control of the Caspian Sea from any sources of accidental invasive species introductions - for possibility of biological control of invader Mnemiopsis leidyi.

The primary source of this Review has been national reports from every of the five Caspian littoral countries, which included results of national observations of ecosystem state and biodiversity of the Caspian Sea. But due to fragmental data of the national observations on invasive species