Egypt

Omayed Biosphere Reserve


 
 

Location:
30o38Žand 30o52ŽN, 29o0Žand 29o18ŽE


Area:
700 km2

Type:
Biosphere Reserve

Year of establishment:
1981

Objective:
Conservation, Sustainable development and Logistic support.

Management:
Department of Natural Protectorates (DNP) of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA)


Geographical aspects:
It lies within the "Warm Deserts and Semi-deserts" bio-geographic region and particularly within the "Accentuated Arid Mediterranean Zone". Five natural habitat types are recognized at Omayed, from the sea towards inland:

  1. Coastal calcareous dunes (the first ridge)
  2. Inland ridges with skeletal shallow soils (the other three ridges)
  3. Saline marshy depressions (between the second and third ridges, an extension of the Mairut Lake)
  4. Non-saline depressions (between the ridges except the former two)
  5. The inland plateau.

This Biosphere Reserve is divided into three zones according to its uses: Core Area No. 1 and 2; Buffer zone and Transition zone.


Flora:
Surveys have shown that more than 120 species of higher plants, 20 species of nitrogen fixing blue-green algae and a similar number of soil fungi occur.

Fauna:
Around 70 bird species, 30 species of reptiles and amphibians. Diverse species of insects, where 500 species of above ground and more than 100 species of below ground insects recorded. The most important species of mammals include Dorcas gazelle, the Eastern Mediterranean endemic mole rat, Gerbils, Fennec, Red fox and the North African endemic and threatened Fat sand rat.

 

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