Qurm Nature Reserve is a national

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

Muscat Governorate Muscat ( ar, محافظة مسقط) is a governorate of the Sultanate of Oman. Its provincial capital is Muscat City, which is the largest city and only metropolis of Oman. Muscat Governorate, commonly referred to as Muscat City, is the seat of ...

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

. Located on the

Gulf of Oman The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ar, خليج عمان ''khalīj ʿumān''; fa, دریای عمان ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ar, خلیج مکران ''khalīj makrān''; fa, دریای مکرا� ...

coast, the reserve protects a mangrove forest and the surrounding

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

in a small

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

within the urban area of Qurm. Established in 1975, the reserve has been designated as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

since 1994, and as a protected

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) ** wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

in the urban area of Qurm, in

Bawshar Bawshar ( ar, بوشر ''Bawšar'') is one of the wilayats of Muscat, in northeastern Oman. The province borders wilayat Muttrah in the east and Muscat International Airport in the west, it overlooks the Sea of Oman from the north. It conta ...

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

, in northeastern

. Both the town and the reserve are named after a local term for the grey mangroves (, ) that

dominate The Dominate, also known as the late Roman Empire, is the name sometimes given to the " despotic" later phase of imperial government in the ancient Roman Empire. It followed the earlier period known as the " Principate". Until the empire was reu ...

the ecosystem along the coast. Established in 1975 by a decree of Sultan

Qaboos bin Said Qaboos bin Said Al Said ( ar, قابوس بن سعيد آل سعيد, ; 18 November 1940 – 10 January 2020) was Sultan of Oman from 23 July 1970 until his death in 2020. A fifteenth-generation descendant of the founder of the House of Al Said, ...

, the reserve protects an area of roughly around the

and former delta of

Wadi Aday Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

, between the

coast and the foot of the

Hajar Mountains The Hajar Mountains ( ar, جِبَال ٱلْحَجَر, Jibāl al-Ḥajar, ''The Rocky Mountains'' or ''The Stone Mountains'') in northeastern Oman and also the eastern United Arab Emirates are the highest mountain range in the eastern Arabian ...

. The reserve was recognized as an

in 1994; of the lower portion of the reserve were designated as a protected

coastal dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s, which separate the beach from an area of

sabkha A sabkha ( ar, سبخة) is a coastal, supratidal mudflat or sandflat in which evaporite-saline minerals accumulate as the result of semiarid to arid climate. Sabkhas are gradational between land and intertidal zone within restricted coastal p ...

tidal flats cut by tidal channels and gullies. Uphill from this is an

alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the s ...

of sand and gravel deposited by the wadi, terminating in karstic bedrock outcroppings to the northeast and south. Within the tidal flats, freshwater from several

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet ( ephemeral) riverbed that contains water on ...

s and groundwater flow mixes with saltwater that enters through two main tidal channels to form a

polyhaline Polyhaline is a salinity category term applied to brackish estuaries and other water bodies with a salinity between 18 and 30 parts per thousand In science and engineering, the parts-per notation is a set of pseudo-units to describe small val ...

environment that supports a high level of

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity' ...

. The region exhibits Oman's characteristic

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in deser ...

, with hot summers and more evaporation than precipitation.

Flora and fauna

The outermost coastal dunes support '' Halopyrum mucronatum'' grasses, transitioning to ''

Sphaerocoma hookeri ''Sphaerocoma'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae. The only species is ''Sphaerocoma hookeri''. Its native range is Egypt to Northeastern Tropical Africa (Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia), Sinai Peninsul ...

'' in less saline parts of the inner dunes and ''

Suaeda fruticosa ''Suaeda fruticosa'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae (formerly placed in the family Chenopodiaceae). It is a small shrub, with very variable appearance over its wide range. It is a halophyte, and occurs in arid and s ...

'', ''

Cistanche phelypaea ''Cistanche phelypaea'' or ''Cistanche phelipaea'' is a species of plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It has a wide range of distribution from the Arabian Peninsula and the Syrian Desert in the east, through the Sahara, Cyprus, Crete and the south ...

'', and ''

Suaeda vermiculata ''Suaeda vermiculata'' is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae (formerly classified under the Chenopodiaceae). It is a salt-tolerant plant (halophyte) that grows naturally in salt-affected areas. Description It is a shrub and can grow ...

'' in more saline areas. Sheltered hollows among the dunes exhibit communities of ''

Lotus garcinii Lotus may refer to: Plants * Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant als ...

'', ''

Cyperus conglomeratus ''Cyperus conglomeratus'' is a species of sedge that is native to northern Africa, the Middle East and parts of western Asia. The species was first formally described by the botanist Christen Friis Rottbøll Christen Friis Rottbøll (3 March 1 ...

'', and ''

Heliotropium ramosissimum ''Heliotropium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the heliotrope family, Heliotropiaceae. There are around 325 species in this almost cosmopolitan genus, which are commonly known as heliotropes (sg. ). It is highly toxic for dogs and cats. Et ...

''. In the tidal channels, gullies, and other low-lying areas that are flooded at high tide, the grey mangrove (''Avicennia marina'') forms dense mangrove forests. The moist, sandy, saline soils of the sabkha flats just above high tide feature ''

Suaeda aegyptiaca ''Suaeda aegyptiaca'' is a species of succulent plant in the family Amaranthaceae (formerly classified under the Chenopodiaceae), and salt-tolerant (halophyte) plant that is distributed in eastern North Africa, the Near East and West Asia. Loca ...

'', ''S. fruticosa'', ''

Cressa cretica ''Cressa cretica'' is a species of flowering plant in the morning glory family. It is found in northern and central Africa, southern Europe and western Asia, as well as parts of southeastern Asia and Australia. It has long been used in tradition ...

'', '' Aeluropus lagopoides'', ''

Halopeplis perfoliata ''Halopeplis'' is a genus in the family Amaranthaceae. The plants are halophytes with not articulated stems and fleshy stem-clasping leaves. There are three species, occurring from the Mediterranean basin and North Africa to Southwest Asia a ...

'', '' Arthrocaulon macrostachyum'', ''

Tetraena qatarensis ''Tetraena qatarensis'' is a salt-tolerant dwarf shrub that grows in the Arabian Peninsula. It has small compact leaves that store water. The leaflets grow in pairs and the flowers have four or five petals. Description ''Tetraena qatarensis'' i ...

'', and other

halophytes A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs and seashores. Th ...

. The moderately drained alluvial plain above the sabkha hosts scattered woodland vegetation, featuring '' Vachellia tortilis'', ''

Prosopis cineraria ''Prosopis cineraria'', also known as ghaf, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is native to arid portions of Western Asia and the Indian Subcontinent, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, India, Oman, Pakistan, S ...

'', '' Ziziphus spina-christi'', and ''

Vachellia flava ''Vachellia flava'', synonym ''Acacia ehrenbergiana'', is a species of drought-resistant bush or small tree, commonly known as salam in Arabic. It is found in the Sahara, the northern Sahel, parts of East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ...

'' trees, as well as ''

Lycium shawii ''Lycium shawii'', desert thorn or Arabian boxthorn is a species of thorny shrub adapted to desert environments, and can be found throughout the Arabian peninsula, and some places in Africa. The thin leaved, rigid bush grows up to high, with a l ...

'' and '' Bassia muricata'' shrubs. The stony hills to the south and northeast feature trees and shrubs similar to the alluvial plain, together with ''

Euphorbia larica ''Euphorbia'' is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. "Euphorbia" is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae (in deference to t ...

'', ''

Commiphora myrrha The genus of the myrrhs, ''Commiphora'', is the most species-rich genus of flowering plants in the frankincense and myrrh family, Burseraceae. The genus contains approximately 190 species of shrubs and trees, which are distributed throughout the ...

'', '' Grewia tenax'', and '' Ochradenus arabicus'' trees, shrubs of '' Cleome brachycarpa'', '' Cometes surattensis'', ''

Leucas inflata ''Leucas'' is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae, first described by Robert Brown in 1810. It contains over 200 species, widespread over much of Africa, and southern and eastern Asia (Iran, India, China, Japan, Indonesia, etc.) with a fe ...

'', ''

Plocama hymenostephana ''Plocama'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It was described by William Aiton in 1789. It is distributed from the Canary Islands to northwestern India. The genus was expanded in 2007 when several other Rubiaceae genera w ...

'', ''

Seddera latifolia ''Seddera'' is a genus of plants in the bindweed family Convolvulaceae. There are currently 20 known species of the plant. Although it is mainly African, the plant extends to Arabia and India. Species The following species are recognised in the ...

'', and '' Vernonia arabica'', and ''

Cenchrus pennisetiformis ''Cenchrus pennisetiformis'', commonly known in Australia as the Cloncurry, white or slender buffel grass, is a species of grass in the genus ''Cenchrus''. It is native to parts of East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent, a ...

'' grasses. The eastern end of the reserve includes an abandoned grove of ''

Phoenix dactylifera ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Ea ...

'' date palms that have intermingled with the wild vegetation. Aquatic animal species found in the wetland include a variety of crabs, such as ''

Gelasimus vocans ''Gelasimus vocans'' is a species of fiddler crab. It is found across the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea, Zanzibar and Madagascar to Indonesia and the central Pacific Ocean. It lives in burrows up to deep. Several forms of ''G. vocans'' have been ...

'', '' Austrua lactea'', and '' Gelasimus tetragonon'' in the mangrove swamps; '' Scylla serrata'', ''

Portunus pelagicus ''Portunus pelagicus'', also known as the flower crab, blue crab, blue swimmer crab, blue manna crab or sand crab, ''rajungan'' in Indonesian, and ''alimasag'' in Tagalog, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan, is a large crab found in the intertidal estu ...

'', '' Callinectes sapidens'', '' Thalamita sp.'', and ''

Grapsus tenuicrustatus ''Grapsus tenuicrustatus'', commonly known as thin-shelled rock crab or Natal lightfoot crab, is a species of decapod crustacean in the family Grapsidae The Grapsidae are a family of crabs known variously as marsh crabs, shore crabs, or t ...

'' in the mangrove channels; and '' Ashtoret lunaris'' and ''

Ocypode saratan ''Ocypode saratan'' is a medium to large-sized species of ''Ocypode'' found in the Red Sea. Very common species in the Red Sea, and one of only two species known from there (''O. cordimanus'' has also been recorded in the Red Sea, but only rar ...

'' in the tidal channels and on the beach. Notable mollusc species include hooded oysters growing on the mangroves'

aerial root Aerial roots are roots above the ground. They are almost always adventitious. They are found in diverse plant species, including epiphytes such as orchids (''Orchidaceae''), tropical coastal swamp trees such as mangroves, banyan figs ('' ...

s, and giant mangrove whelks in the mud between the mangroves. Many species of finfish live in the wetland, particularly

Arabian toothcarp The Arabian toothcarp (''Aphaniops dispar''), known also as the Arabian pupfish or mother-of-Pearl fish is a species of killifish belonging to the family Cyprinodontidae. It can be found from the shores of the Red Sea south to Ethiopia, the Gulf ...

tiger perch Grunters or tigerperches are ray-finned fishes in the family Terapontidae (also spelled Teraponidae, Theraponidae or Therapontidae). This family is part of the superfamily Percoidea of the order Perciformes. Characteristics The Terapontidae is ...

goby Goby is a common name for many species of small to medium sized ray-finned fish, normally with large heads and tapered bodies, which are found in marine, brackish and freshwater environments. Traditionally most of the species called gobies have b ...

, and

common silver-biddy The common silver-biddy (''Gerres oyena''), also known as the blacktip silver biddy, Darnley Island silverbelly, longtail silverbiddy, oceanic silver biddy, shining silver-belly or slender silver belly, is a species of mojarra native to marine an ...

, while the reserve provides a feeding ground and

nursery habitat In marine environments, a nursery habitat is a subset of all habitats where juveniles of a species occur, having a greater level of productivity per unit area than other juvenile habitats (Beck et al. 2001). Mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass ar ...

for other species such as mullet, bigeye snapper,

shad The Alosinae, or the shads,Alosinae
carangids, and

seabream The Sparidae are a family of fish in the order Perciformes, commonly called sea breams and porgies. The sheepshead, scup, and red seabream are species in this family. Most sparids are deep-bodied compressed fish with a small mouth separated by ...

, as well as commercially important shrimp species. The mangroves' shed leaves feed various marine

detritivore Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders, or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). There are many kinds of invertebrate ...

s. One study found nearly two hundred bird species in the reserve, such as

Kentish plover The Kentish plover (''Charadrius alexandrinus'') is a small cosmopolitan shorebird (40-44 g) of the family Charadriidae that breeds on the shores of saline lakes, lagoons, and coasts, populating sand dunes, marshes, semi-arid desert, and tundra.S ...

black-headed gull The black-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus ridibundus'') is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic including Europe and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but some birds res ...

, white-cheeked tern, Caspian gull,

dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader, formerly sometimes separated with the other "stints" in the genus ''Erolia''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brown ...

bar-tailed godwit The bar-tailed godwit (''Limosa lapponica'') is a large and strongly migratory wader in the family Scolopacidae, which feeds on bristle-worms and shellfish on coastal mudflats and estuaries. It has distinctive red breeding plumage, long legs, an ...

, Socotra cormorant,

greater flamingo The greater flamingo (''Phoenicopterus roseus'') is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and in southern Europe. Taxonomy The greater flamingo was desc ...

little stint The little stint (''Calidris minuta'' or ''Erolia minuta''), is a very small wader. It breeds in arctic Europe and Asia, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to Africa and south Asia. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America ...

ruddy turnstone The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small cosmopolitan wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the pl ...

, and slender-billed gull. Terrestrial fauna include the

Arabian red fox The Arabian red fox (''Vulpes vulpes arabica'') is a subspecies of the red fox native to the Arabian Peninsula, specifically the Hajar and Dhofar Mountains in Oman, as well as the UAE, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It has also been re ...

and Balochistan gerbil;

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...

s are thought to have visited the area until recent increases in human development.

Conservation value

Qurm Nature Reserve protects one of the largest mangrove forests in the Gulf of Oman ecoregion, a biome that supports a diverse variety of marine, terrestrial, and avian wildlife.

Plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a cr ...

and

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commu ...

from the reserve are transported out to sea by the tides, providing raw material for the marine ecosystems in the adjoining coastal waters. This injection of nutrients increases marine

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

, indirectly supporting the populations of commercially important fish species. Oman is part of the

Central Asian-Indian Flyway The Central Asian Flyway (CAF), Central Asian-Indian Flyway, or Central Asian-South Asian Flyway is a flyway covering a large continental area of Eurasia between the Arctic Ocean and the Indian Ocean and the associated island chains. The CAF compri ...

for

migratory birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting ...

, and the reserve, like other estuaries, provides a stopover ground where waterbirds can rest and feed during their migrations. The mangrove forest also contributes to

shoreline stabilization A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

in the face of

tropical storm A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depen ...

s, and it improves water quality by retaining and filtering storm run-off. Archaeological studies have found evidence of the presence of Stone Age humans in what is now the reserve as long as 6000 years ago, seasonally harvesting oysters and whelks from the mangrove forests.

References

{{Reflist, 30em IUCN Category IV Geography of Muscat, Oman 1975 establishments in Oman Ramsar sites in Oman Important Bird Areas of Oman