Ussuri-Wusili meadow and forest meadow

Ecoregions (main)

Ussuri-Wusili meadow and forest meadow

Published: May 16, 2014, 3:00 pm

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Ecoregions (main) Ornithology (main) Biodiversity (main) Ecology (main) Geography (main) Zoology (main) Botany (main)

Lake Khanka in the Ussuri-Wusili meadow and forest meadow ecoregion. Source: NASA

WWF Terrestrial Ecoregions Collection

The Ussuri-Wusuli meadow and forest meadow, also known as Suiphun-Khanka meadows and forest meadows, is an ecoregion is characterised by forestless or woodland landscapes near Lake Khanka up to the uppermost part of Ussuri River in the north and along the valley of Razdolnaya (Suiphun) River to the south. In Russian scientific literature it is known as Suiphun-Khanka depression. This ecoregion lies chiefly within southeastern Russia, with a smaller portion within northeastern China. The Ussuri River, a tributary of the Amur River, bisects this ecoregion.

Ussuri River, Russia. (Photograph by WWF Russia/ Yuri Shibnev)

The reasons for the paucity of forests are still a point of discussion among biogeographers. Although climatic conditions favor forest development, devastating fires have occurred regularly since the appearance of the first civilizations more than ten centuries ago. The Bohai and Churgene civilizations likely caused the formation of fire tolerant meadows and Mongolian oak woodland communities.

The valley was probably both a refuge and biogeographical "bridge" for many species during the late Pleistocene glaciation. This explains the very high level of species diversity and the presence of floral relicts.

Rare and endangered animals include Siberian tiger, Far Eastern leopard. Many fish taxa are endemic to Lake Khanka or the Ussuri and Lake Khanka is one of the most important sites for migrating birds in all of eastern Asia. Globally rare cranes and ibises are resident here. Only 20% of lands in the region are left unmanaged.

Lake Khanka is affected by the side effects of the agricultural industry, such as deleterious compounds included in fertilizers, biowaste of animal husbandry, etc.

Source: WWF

Biodiversity Features

Primary research conducted on the territory of newly organized Khanka reserve estimates the diversity of mammals is 48 species, 338 birds, seven reptiles, six amphibians. The brief information of rare animal species except birds, is shown in table 1. The estimates of insect diversity have not been made, however it’s known that twelve species of insects are listed in the "Red Book of Russia". Most of them have their eastern limit of distribution in the ecoregion.

Table 1. Animals rare or endemic to the ecoregion
Family	Common name	Scientific name	Status
Fishes
Carp family	Small-scale carp	Plagiognathops microlepis	endemic to Khanka and Ussuri
Carp family	Black Amur bream	Megalobrama terminalis	endemic to Khanka, Ussuri and Amur
Carp family	Black amur	Mylopharyngodon piceus	endemic to Khanka and Ussuri
Sheat-fish family	Soldatov’s Sheat-fish	Silurus soldatovi	endemic to Khanka, Ussuri and Amur
Perch family	Chinese perch	Siniperca chua-tsi	endemic to Khanka, Ussuri and Amur
Amphibians
	Ussuri triton	Onychodactylus fischeri	Endemic to Ussuri ecoregion and Korea
Reptiles
Soft turtles	Far eastern leather turtle	Trionyx sinensis	endemic to Khanka, Ussuri and Amur
True lizards	Korean long-tail lizard	Takydromus wolteri	Endemic to Ussuri ecoregion and eastern China
Grass-snakes	Stripy ranner	Coluber spinalis	The only location in Russia
Mammals
Moles	Japanese mole	Mogera wogura	The only location in Russia
Shrews	Giant brown-teeth shrew	Sorex mirabilis	Rare and endangered species
Shrews		Neomys fodiens	Rare and endangered species
Bats	Long-finger bat	Myotis capaccinii macrodactylus	Rare and endangered species
Bats	Ikonnikov’s bat	Myotis ikonnikovi	Rare species
Bats	Long-tail bat	Myotis frater	Rare species
Bats	Leather noctule	Pipistrellus savii	Rare on the Far East
Bats	Eastern noctule	Pipistrellus abramus	The only location in Russia
Bats	Common long-wing bat	Miniopterus schreibersi	The only location on Russian Far East
Hamsters	Manchurian hamster	Myospalax psilurus epsilanus	Rare species
Dogs	Red wolf	Cuon alpinus	Endangered and very rare species
Mink family		Mustela altaica	Endangered and rare species
Cats	Ussurian tiger	Panthera tigris altaica	Endangered and rare species
Cats	Far eastern leopard	Panthera pardus orientalis	Endangered and very rare species
Cats	Far eastern forest cat	Felis euptilura	Rare species in Russia
Ship family	Amur mountain ship	Nemoraedus caudatus	Rare species

Birds are well studied on this territory because of great importance of the Lake Khanka in their seasonal migration and reproduction. From about 400 species noticed for the area the 44 species were included in the Red Book of Asia, and more than 80 are recommended for the special protection on the territory of the Russian Far East. In Table 2 the most important part of endangered bird species is shown.

Table 2. Rare species of birds
Family	Common name	Scientific name	The pale	Status
Sheldrake	Black-neck sheldrake	Podiceps nigricollis	Nest	Rare species
Sheldrake	Big sheldrake	Podiceps cristatus	Nest	Rare species
Cormorant	Big cormorant	Phalacrocorax carbo	Nest	Rare on the Far East
Heron family	Big bittern	Botaurus stellaris	Nest	Rare endangered species
Heron family	Big white heron	Egretta alba	Nest	Rare species
Heron family	Medium white heron	Egretta intermedia	Nest	Rare species
Ibis family		Platalea leucorodia	Nest	Very rare endangered species
Ibis family	Red-leg ibis	Nipponia nippon	Nest	Very rare endangered species
Stork family	Far eastern stork	Ciconia boyciana	Nest	Rare species with narrow range
Stork family	Black stork	Ciconia nigra	Nest	Rare species
Duck family	Grey goose	Anser anser	Nest	Rare on the Russian Far east
Duck family	Dry-beak goose	Cygnopsis cygnoides	Nest	Rare and endangered species
Duck family	Swan	Cygnus olor	Migr	Rare on Russian Far East
Duck family	Swan	Cygnus cygnus	Nest	Rare on Russian Far East
Duck family		Tadorna cristata	?	Possibly extinct, last seen in 1966
Duck family	Black mallard	Anas poecilorhyncha	Nest	Decreasing population
Duck family	Mandarin duck	Aix galericulata	Nest	Rare species with decreasing population
Duck family	Bar’s black duck	Aythya baeri	Nest	Rare species
Hawk family	Cristate wasp-eater	Pernis ptilorhynchus	Nest	Rare with decreasing population
Hawk family	Black kite	Milvus migrans	Nest	Decreasing population
Hawk family	Patchy ringtail	Circus melanoleucos	Nest	Decreasing population
Hawk family	Bulrush ringtail	Circus aeruginosus spilonotus	Nest	Rare with decreasing population
Hawk family	Short-finger hawk	Accipiter soloensis	Nest	Rare species in Rissia
Hawk family	Hawk sarych	Butastur indicus	Nest	Rare species with narrow range
Hawk family	Big eaglet	Aquila clanga	Nest	Rare with decreasing population
Hawk family	Golden eagle	Aquila chrysaetos	Nest	Rare species
Hawk family	Black griffon	Aegyptus monachum	Wintering	Rare species
Falcon family	Falcon	Falco rusticolus	Wintering	Rare species
Black cock family	Ussuri black cock	Lyrurus tetrix ussuriensis	Nest	Decreasing population
Pheasant family	Beard ptarmigan	Perdix dauuricae suschkini	Nest	Rare species
Crane order		Turnix tanki	Nest	Rare species
Crane family	Japanese crane	Grus japonensis	Nest	Extremely rare species
Crane family	White crane	Grus leucogeranus	Nest	Extremely rare species
Crane family	Daurian crane	Grus vipio	Nest	Extremely rare species
Crane family	Black crane	Grus monacha	Nest	Rare in Russia
Crane order	White-wing rail	Porzana exquisita	Nest	Very rare species
Bustard family	Bustard	Otis tarda dybowskii	Migr	Rare species
Squatarole order		Himantopus himantopus	Nest	Very rare species

Justification of Ecoregion Delineation

In Russia, the mapped boundaries correspond to the Far Eastern subboreal humid lowlands and swamps surrounding Lake Khanka. Lines are adapted from Isachenko’s map of USSR landscapes. This area corresponds to the easternmost ecoregion forest polygon in the Amur Manchurian forest province according to Kurnaev’s forest map of the USSR. It includes the relatively flat, low steppe region south of Lake Khanka since this area has a number of Red Book elevation in common with Lake Khanka to the north. Within China, the boundaries correspond to the swamp species and woodlands just north of Lake Khanka (classes 69 and 70) from the CVMCC Vegetation Map of China. These meadows are separated from the Amur meadows and forest grasslands by the Wanda Shan (part of the Manchurian mixed forest ecoregion).

Additional information on this ecoregion

• For a shorter summary of this entry, see the WWF WildWorld profile of this ecoregion.

Further reading

• Chinese Vegetation Map Compilation Committee. 1979. Vegetation map of China. Map (1:10,000,000). Science Press, Beijing, China. .
• Kurnaev, S. 1990. Forest regionalization of the USSR (1:16,000,000) Moscow: Dept. of Geodesy and Cartography.

Disclaimer: This article contains information that was originally published by the World Wildlife Fund. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth have edited its content and added new information. The use of information from the World Wildlife Fund should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for editing of the original content.

Citation

Fund, W. (2014). Ussuri-Wusili meadow and forest meadow . Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Ussuri-Wusili_meadow_and_forest_meadow