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Biologists of Yamal received new unique data about populations of arctic birds
On the press-conference in the news agency “Sever-Press” scientists of the Arctic scientific and research station of the Institute of ecology of plants and animals, the Ural branch of the RAS and the scientific center for study of the Arctic, candidates of biological sciences Alexander Sokolov and Natalia Sokolova told about field researches of terrestrial ecological systems of Yamal tundra.
18 colleagues from France, Norway and the Netherlands, students and postgraduates of Perm State National Research University, a biologist Olga Pokrovskaya from Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution worked together with them in the expeditions this year. For the third year in a row the expeditions have covered all sub-zones of Yamal tundra – the district of the station Obskaya, the research station Yerkuta in the southern Yamal, Sabetta and Beliy Island. Study of rare species of arctic birds this year was successful for the scientists. At assistance of the government of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the company “Gazpromtrans” they organized the expedition along the railroad from Labytnangi to the station Karskaya. The scientists researched 5 bridge passages and found 5 nests of the largest representative of the Falconidae - the gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus). Till this time nesting of this species on acting objects of infrastructure was not registered in the circumpolar scale, and it is a unique fact of ecology of the bird of prey. Within the expedition on Yerkuta the biologists found 7 nests of the rare goose – the lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus). Only one nest – the second during 25 years – was found on the territory of Norway this summer. The lesser white-fronted goose of Yamal settled around peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus). In one of the places the scientists found the mixed nest of the Tundra bean goose (Anser serrirostris) and the lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus), what confirms the supposition about growth of population of the lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus) in Yamal. According to the words of Olga Pokrovskaya, for geese it is a usual phenomenon, when places for nesting are limited and young geese lay eggs into nests of other species. But cases with the lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus) were not described in literature, as Alexander Sokolov comments this scientific fact. On the press-conference the biologists shared the results of researches started in 2015. During the previous field season on Yerkuta they set 7 geolocators on red-necked phalaropes (Phalaropus lobatus). This summer two birds came back to Yamal. They were caught, the devices were taken off. The data from the geolocators showed that the birds had spent winter on the territory of Somali, the United Arab Emirates and in-between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. During migration they stopped for long time on the coast of the Aral in Kazakhstan. The interesting data were received from the geolocators of two long-tailed jaegers (Stercorarius longicaudus). According to the data, the birds that make nests in three kilometers from each other prefer spending winter on different coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. One is in Africa, the second – in South America. During their migration long-tailed jaegers (Stercorarius longicaudus) overcome large distance, the bigger part of which goes above the Atlantic Ocean. As Alexander Sokolov explains, these birds do not see land during several months per year. He adds that this year 4 new geolocators were set on long-tailed jaegers (Stercorarius longicaudus) and 2 – on parasitic jaegers (Stercorarius parasiticus). The received data will supplement the picture about routes of migration and places of wintering of the birds nesting in Yamal.
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