Wetlands of Karasuk town (29388)
Russia (European), Europe
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: A1a, A1c, D1a
Year of last assessment: 2011
National site name: Ozera goroda Karasuk
Central coordinates: Latitude: 53.7575, Longitude: 78.0758
System: freshwater, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 110 to 113
Area of KBA (km2): 428.34253
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: The region represents a vast system of constant, partially and fully dried up lakes that are fed from Karasuk river. The lakes are primarily brackish but there are some fresh ones. Many lakes have large reedbeds. There are also substantial areas of steppes and salines. A large area is taken by the man-made landscapes, including the Karasuk town. Of highest conservation value are the lakes in the Karasuk town (nesting place of the White-headed duck in the 2000s) and the steppe areas around Troitskoe, where the sociable lapwing nested in the 1990s and there are still suitable habitats for it. Many wetlands of the system have favorouble conditions for rest and feeding of the birds of passage.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that meets the thresholds for at least one criterion described in the Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs.
Additional biodiversity: White-headed Duck, Sociable Lapwing, >30,000 non-breeding waterbirds. The following semi-aquatic birds were noticed on nesting and movements in June-August: Great Crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Great Bittern, Great Egret, Whooper Swan, Mute Swan, Mallard, Gadwall, Garganey, Eurasian Wigeon, Common Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Red-crested Pochard, Common Shelduck, Common Coot, Little Ringed Plover, Red-necked Phalarope, Northern Lapwing, Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Little Stint, Temminck’s Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ruff, Cur-lew, Black-tailed Godwit, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Common Snipe, White-winged Tern, Black Tern, Common Tern, Caspian Gull, Mew Gull, Pallas's Gull, Black-headed Gull, Little Gull, Bearded Parrotbill etc.
Other site values: state 70%, private 10%, other 20%
Delineation rationale: 2014-08-12 (BL Secretariat): centroid coords adjusted to 53°45'27'N 78°4'33'E and site area changed to (or confirmed as) 42800 ha (rounded), on basis of refined polygon downloaded from Spatial Database on Important Bird Areas of Russia 2014 (© Russian Bird Conservation Union, © Transparent World).
Habitats
Land use: agriculture (5%) | fisheries/aquaculture (40%) | forestry (1%) | hunting (70%) | nature conservation and research (4%) | not utilised (10%) | rangeland/pastureland (8%) | tourism/recreation (2%) | urban/industrial/transport (10%) | water management (10%)
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Grassland | 15 | |
| Artificial - Terrestrial | 16 | |
| Forest | 1 | |
| Wetlands(Inland) | 68 |
Additional information
References: Bazdyrev A.V., Murzakhanov E.B. Data on Sociable Lapwing and White-Headed Duck in 1960-90th were taken from the Red List of the Novosibirsk oblast: mammals, birds, amphibian, fish, worms, insects (Eds. Sergeev M.G.- Novosibirsk, 2000. 316 p.) and from Gordienlo N.S., Drobovtsev V.I., Koshelev A.I. - 'Biology of White-Headed Duck in Northern Kazakhstan and on the South of Western Siberia.' / In the book 'Rare, endangered and little-studied birds of USSR'. Moscow, 1986.
Contributors: The map polygon is provided courtesy of the Spatial Database on Important Bird Areas of Russia 2014 (© Russian Bird Conservation Union, © Transparent World).