Natural Zones and Nature Reserves of Uzbekistan

The nature of Uzbekistan includes desert, foothill (adyr), mountain, and tugai zones. Rare species are protected in nature reserves.

Natural Zones

Zone	Plants	Animals
Desert	saxaul, cherkez, sand acacia	goitered gazelle, tortoise, snake
Foothills (adyr)	ephemerals and ephemeroids (tulip)
Mountain	juniper, walnut, maple, alpine meadows	snow leopard, argali, bear
Tugai	willow, oleaster, poplar

• Desert: Kyzylkum, Ustyurt, Mirzachul. The desert zone occupies the largest area.
• The foothills have gray soils, and ephemerals bloom in spring.
• Tugai forests are found along riverbanks (Amu Darya, Syr Darya).

Nature Reserves

• Zaamin: Jizzakh region, 1926.
• Hisar (Kashkadarya), Zarafshan, Nurata, Kyzylkum, Surkhan.
• Badai-Tugai (Karakalpakstan), Kitab Geological Reserve.
• Ugam-Chatkal National Park: Tashkent region.
• Rare species are included in the Red Book (for example, the snow leopard).
• Jeyran Ecocenter: in the Bukhara region.
• Zaamin is in Jizzakh, not in Samarkand.