Experiences with the conservation of the Central Asian Tortoise Agrionemys horsfieldii Gray, 1844 during the construction of PV plants in Uzbekistan

R.D. Kashkarov, Yu.O. Mitropolskaya and S.R. Kim

Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS, 2024, 328(4): 622–639 · https://doi.org/10.31610/trudyzin/2024.328.4.622

Full text

Abstract

The paper describes step-by-step actions to conserve a globally threatened species – the Central Asian Tortoise in the area of construction of PV plant in the Karnabchul steppe of Samarkand region of Uzbekistan. The total area of the solar PV plant is 350 ha. The research was conducted during spring and summer seasons from 2019 to 2022 during the planning and construction phase of this object. Fauna surveys of the project site in 2019 showed that the most abundant reptiles of the project site are the Central Asian Tortoise. A quantitative assessment of the individuals inhabiting the project site and an analysis the risk of planned technogenic impact were carried out in 2020. The likely damage to the turtle population from the installation and construction works was reasonably estimated at 430 individuals. This was a strong argument for postponing full-scale construction works until mid-2021. Preparations for the relocation of living on the project site turtles began in 2020: the design of the fence and the drainage channel profile were agreed to be as safe as possible for the animals; construction of the project site fence began and a 1250 ha relocation site with similar foraging and protection conditions was selected. In spring 2021, 4572 individuals were removed from the project site and relocated to the resettlement area. The necessary precautions were observed. In 2022, the effectiveness of translocating Central Asian tortoises into the contiguous territory was monitored. Population counts were carried out and the sex and age structure of the turtle population in the relocation area was studied. These studies show that the resettlement process has not disturbed the age and sex structure of the Central Asian tortoise in the area and has not resulted in the mortality of even a small number of individuals. The desert areas of Uzbekistan have the highest potential for solar energy development. At the same time, this sector of the economy also poses a potential threat to terrestrial vertebrate species, in particular the Central Asian Tortoise. The described actions on tortoise conservation in the conditions of Uzbekistan were applied for the first time and showed a good result. In our opinion, it can be used in the implementation of subsequent similar projects.

Key words

threatened species, monitoring, sex and age composition, globally population, conservation, Central Asian Tortoise, anthropogenic impacts, PV plant, abundance

Submitted May 23, 2024 · Accepted October 28, 2024 · Published online December 5, 2024

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