Amur River, northeast of Khabarovsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia Photograph by Steve Nelson & Zovtaigi   Eastern Asia: Southeastern Russia and northeastern China Flooded Grasslands and Savannas   47,600 square miles (123,200 square kilometers) -- about the size of New York Vulnerable

· Flooded with Water
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Flooded with Water

If you are going to visit the Amur Meadow Steppe, be sure to wear your boots. This ecoregion includes wet meadows, floodplains, bogs, and mires--as well as grasslands and gallery forests--along the Amur River valley in China and Russia. Intense seasonal rains cause periodic flooding along this steppe area. These high waters bring abundant nutrients along the alluvial plains, where grasses grow to unusual heights.

Special Features

Habitats here consist of wet meadows, bogs, and swamps. Dry meadows, grass fens and savanna-like areas, as well as patches of gallery forest, can also be found here. Lakes and other wetlands are numerous and dot the landscape. Dominant plant species include bog moss, heather, shorthair, sedge, cotton grass, and horsetail. Islands of Mongolian oak, Daurian birch, and other broadleaf trees are a common occurrence, especially at the borders of terraces--ancient lakebeds that have filled with sediment. Between the Kharpi and Simmi Rivers grow larch forests with an understory of ground birch. Willow and alder forests grow in the flood zones of rivers in the Khingan Reserve. River birch and aspen are found in higher, drier locations.

	The large Steller’s sea eagle is an impressive predator, with well developed talons and a large, powerful bill. Although similar in many ways to its cousins the bald eagle and the white-tailed sea eagle, the Steller’s sea eagle is sometimes considered the most powerful and aggressive of the three. Its prey base is broad, ranging from large fish to birds to small mammals.

Wild Side

The wetlands support populations of rare bird species, including the largest populations of swan geese and Steller’s sea eagles in the Amur region. Other rare birds include peregrine falcons, saker falcons, mandarin ducks, Oriental storks, Japanese cranes, and white-naped cranes. Raccoon dogs and otters can be seen near aquatic environments while elk, deer, and bears are common along the lakesides in the summer. Finally, Lake Bolon has an important indigenous fish population.

Cause for Concern

Human activities that threaten biodiversity here include agriculture, livestock grazing, and hunting and poaching. Birds migrating to south Asian wintering spots are often threatened by habitat conversion in these areas. American mink is an introduced species that has overtaken the European mink in its native territory. Its presence in this ecoregion may also pose a threat to the native Siberian mink.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.