LAKE BAIKAL BASIN - RUSSIAN FEDERATION

COUNTRY Russian Federation

NAME Lake Baikal Basin

IUCN MANAGEMENT CATEGORY Biosphere Reserve (part). Ramsar site (part)
Baikalo-Lenskiy Zapovednik Ia Strict Nature Reserve
Baikalskiy Zapovednik Ia Strict Nature Reserve. Biosphere Reserve
Barguzinskiy Zapovednik Ia Strict Nature Reserve. Biosphere Reserve
Zabaikalskiy National Park II National Park
Pribaikalskiy National Park II National Park
Frolikhinskiy Zakaznik IV Habitat/Species Management Area
Kabanskiy Zakaznik IV Habitat/Species Management Area/ Ramsar Site.

Natural World Heritage Site, inscribed 1996. Natural Criteria: i, ii, iii, iv

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL PROVINCE Lake Baikal (2.44.14)

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION In south central Siberia, near the Mongolian border, comprising Lake Baikal and the land from 5km to 70km surrounding it. The nearest cities and airports are Irkutsk 60km to the west and Ulan Ude to the east, both on the Trans-Siberian railway: 51°27'N - 55°46’ and 103°43' – 109°56’E.

DATE AND HISTORY OF ESTABLISHMENT

AREA 88,000sq.km: Lake Baikal, 31,471sq.km, Coastal Protection Zone 56,500sq.km (19,490sq.km protected):

Baikalo-Lenskiy Zapovednik 659,919ha Baikalskiy Zapovednik 165,724ha
Pribaikalskiy National Park 418,000ha, Frolikhinskiy Zakaznik 68,000ha
Barguzinskiy Zapovednik 374,423ha Kabanskiy Zakaznik 18,000ha
Zabaikalskiy National Park 245,000ha

LAND TENURE Government, in the Irkutsk Region and the Buryat Autonomous Republic. Administered by the Russian State Heritage Committee of Environmental Protection and the Federal Forestry Service, coordinated by the Baikal Commission. There are some long-term leases to organisations and private individuals.

ALTITUDE From 1,182m underwater to 2,840m in the Barguzinskiy mountains. The elevation of Lake Baikal is 455m.

PHYSICAL FEATURES Lake Baikal is the seventh largest and the deepest lake in the world and contains over a fifth of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water (23,000 km³). It is 636km long by 27 to 80 km wide, has 2,100km of coastline and the bottom is 1,182m below sea level. Upwelling currents and vertical water movements oxygenate the water at depth. It is walled in by mountains: the narrow Primorskiy and Baikalskiy ranges to the west, the Barguzinskiy and Ulan-Bagasy ranges on the east and the Khamar Daban mountains in the south. 335 main tributaries flow in from these, the largest rivers being the Selenga, Turka, Barguzin and Upper Angara. Only the Angara, a tributary of the Yenesei, flows out; a dam on this has raised the level of the lake altering its ecology. The lake has exceptionally clear water with up to 40m visibility, and a mineral content 25-50% lower than most other freshwater lakes. The unusual purity of the water is due to the presence of zooplankton which consume the debris, and because most of its watershed is rocky and unfarmed so that inflowing waters have relatively low mineral or chemical content.

The lake is of tectonic origin, situated in an active rift complex system of block-faulted depressions and consists of three deep basins resting on 7km of sediments. It is 25 million years old, the oldest large lake in the world, its formation having taken place during the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods. Hydrothermal vents 400m deep at Frohlika Bay are evidence of the ongoing tectonic activity of the area.

CLIMATE The Baikal basin has a continental climate with profound fluctuations of both annual and daily temperatures. Winters are long, dry and cold. Mean daily temperatures range from -25°C in January to +18°C in July. However, Lake Baikal itself creates a distinct microclimate within 25km of its shores: the water being slow to warm up and slow to cool moderates coastal conditions where temperatures may be 5°C higher in winter and 5°C lower in summer. Annual rainfall at the north end of the lake averages 200-350mm, at the south end, 500-900mm, falling mainly in summer storms. Fogs occur in spring and autumn. The surface of the lake freezes for four months during winter, with ice until June. The wind regime is coastal: winter winds blow from the cold land to the lake, summer winds, from the lake to the warmer land. Winds from the mountains can be sudden and violent, creating high waves (Galaziy, 1993).

VEGETATION The Baikal region is on the frontier between the east Siberian taiga, to the west and north, the trans-Baikal coniferous forest to the east and the Altai-Sayan montane forest to the south. The great variety of plants in the basin is determined by climatic asymmetry: the southwestern part of the basin is covered by light coniferous forests and mountain steppes; in the east Scots pine Pinus sylvestris forest predominates and the north is dominated by deciduous forests. Terraces near the shore in the north are dominated by Dahurian larch Larix gmelina with Rhododendron dahuricum, grading on the eastern and western shores into forests of Siberian cembra or stone pine Pinus sibirica with Siberian larch Larix sibirica. Associated broadleaf species are the willow-like Chosenia arbutifolia, aspen Populus tremula, birches Betula pendula, and B.alba, Siberian rowan Sorbus sibirica, Siberian almond Amygdalys pedunculata, bird cherry Prunus asiatica, Siberian apricot P.sibirica with an understorey of honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum and currants Ribes rubrum, R. nigrum. At higher altitudes are pure stands of fir Abies sibirica and Pinus sibirica forest with Korean pine Pinus koraiensis (R) and black spruce Picea obovata, followed still higher up by thickets of dwarf pine Pinus pumila. The highest level is tundra dominated by cyperus Kobresia sibirica and peaty meadows of sedge Carex spp. with stone birch Betula ermanii on stony talus, and lichen Cladonia- or Cetraria-covered rocks and cliffs. 600 species of vascular plants have been recorded including 20 species of flowering plants (Borodin, 1983).

In the southern part of the basin, a well-marked altitudinal zonation also occurs. Sphagnum bogs and forests of poplar Populus suavolens and the monotypic willow Chosenia arbutifolia occupy low-lying areas, with a relict species, the Siberian apple Malus pallasiana, while river valleys contain bird cherry Prunus padus, rowan S. sibirica and alder Alnus fruticosa. The northern slopes of the mountains have taiga of Korean pine P. koraiensis, black spruce Picea obovata and Pinus sibirica, with Siberian fir Abies sibirica dominant in places. The southern slopes are covered in mixed larch L. sibirica and pine P. sylvestris forest which gives way to steppe vegetation on the foothills. At higher altitudes there is Pinus sibirica elfin woodland and mountain tundra shrubs such as Rhododendron parvifolium. The high altitude meadows support thickets of dwarf Siberian pine P. pumila and birch Betula middendorfii. Some 1000 species of aquatic flora are said to exist, 15% of them endemic (GlobalNature, 2002). The vegetation of the Selenga delta is of reedbeds, regularly flooded sedge meadows and shrub willow.

FAUNA About 1200 species live in the lake, 60% of them endemic (GlobalNature, 2002), which have  evolved in isolation from ancient species, and there are twice that number of species in the surrounding taiga. The aquatic fauna of Lake Baikal is one of the most diverse and unusual in the world, including sponge reefs, 255 species of shrimp-like amphipods, 147 species of snail and 80 species of flatworm. Dense clouds of millions of the tiny crustacean Epischura baicalensis which forms 96% of the zooplankton, filter the water of detritus. (Galaziy, 1988). The deep hydrothermal vents of oxygenated water also attract an unusual range of species including sponges. The most noteworthy aquatic species is the unique nerpa, the freshwater Baikal seal Phoca sibirica.

The terrestrial fauna is less distinctive. The northern lake shores, as in Barguzinskiy Zapovednik, has a faunal diversity characteristic of the taiga, with 39 recorded species of mammal recorded, including pika Ochotona hyperborea, Siberian chipmunk Eutamias sibiricus, marmot Marmota baibacina, Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys volans, fox Vulpes vulpes, brown bear Ursus arctos, ermine Mustela erminea, and mountain, common and Kolinsky weasels Mustela altaia, M. nivalis and M. sibirica, otter Lutra lutra, large numbers of sable Martes zibellina princeps, noted for its exceptionally valuable fur, wolverine Gulo gulo, a local race of musk deer Moschus moschiferus, Siberian red deer Cervus elaphus sibiricus, elk Alces alces and reindeer Rangifer tarandus. The avifauna includes 261 bird species, among them the Siberian crane Grus leucogeranus (EN), swan goose Anser cygnoides (VU), imperial eagle Aquila heliaca (VU), Asian dowitcher Limnodromus semipalmatus (VU), corncrake Crex crex (VU), white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla and capercaillie Tetrao urogallus. Numbers of breeding Anatidae can reach 138,000. On migration, 5-7 million waders and waterbirds pass through the Selenga delta (Ramsar,1997). The clouds of summer insects are as nourishing as the invertebrate life of the water.

To the south, in the Baikalskiy Zapovednik, there are 37 mammal species and 260 species of birds. Many of them are the same species found in the northern part of the basin but also include steppe polecat Mustela eversmanii and Kolinsky weasel M. sibirica, lynx Felis lynx, wild pig Sus scrofa and roe deer Caprolus capreolus. Birds include species of swan goose Anser cygnoides, crested honey buzzard Pernis ptilorhyncus, black kite Milvus migrans, hawk owl Sunia ulula, rock ptarmigan Lagopus mutus, hazel grouse Tetrastes bonasia, capercaillie Tetrao urogallus and great bustard Otis tarda (Borodin, 1983). There are 53 species of fish, most of them edible. 27 are endemic, including Baikal sturgeon Acipencer schrenskii and A.baeri baicalensis, the omul salmon Coregonus autumnalis migratorius, Baikal black grayling Thymallus arcticus baicalensis, 32 species of bullhead Ictalurus spp. and the viviparous large and small oilfish golumyanka and gobi, Comephoridae baicalensis and C. dubowski (GlobalNature, 2002).