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SITE NAME
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Bolshevik Island, south, Severnaya Zemlya, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (095)135-71-39(off.)/198-10-24(h)/954-55-34(fax) // // Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Leninski pr., 33, Moscow, 119071 RUSSIA
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Structure of vegetation and soil fauna on Bolshevik Island, Severnaya Zemlya
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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14.07
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21.09
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2
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| Spring was prolonged with late snowmelt, but summer was warm, dry and sunny. From 14 July to 31 August there were only 19 days without bright sun, including 6 days with light rain, 2 days with some snow and 18 foggy days. Wind was unusually weak most of the season: calm on 6 days and only 6 days with strong winds. Mass aerial activities of midges, Chironomidae were frequent, other Diptera insects, Mycetophilidae, Trichoceridae and Muscidae were active on soil surface.
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
10.07
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
mid June
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
25.07
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
high
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Breeding conditions:
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| Despite high density of territorial Snowy Owls their juveniles were not recorded; numbers of Acrtic Foxes were high and they bred, also Stoats were common in some river valleys. Reproduction in 2000 was presumably successful only in some gulls and Snow Buntings (dates of fledging are known, as well as ratio of adult to juvenile birds). Brent Geese did not stay for nesting in the area as in previous years, but could move, probably due to late snow melt, to the north of island, where mass nesting is known to be normal. No indicatons of wader breeding were recorded. From 16 August to 8 September geese flocks of 20-60 birds in size were migrating south, between 10 and 15 September flocks of Purple Sandpipers up to 20 birds were registered on the sea shore, and flocks of Snow Buntings up to 30 birds were seen on the shore between 17 August and 25 September.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Lemming numbers were faily high, with density of winter nests 3-5 per 1 km of trip on seaside plain and 1 per 1 km on denudation plain.
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Rodent species recorded:
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| Latin | Abundance |
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| Dicrostonyx torquatus | abundant |
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
| Birds were regularly counted on excursions, including car trips. Species combosition of bird flocks was determined during few days of their mass movements to the site fish schooling along Solnechnaya Bay coast. Observations were also carried out on feeding of Snow Buntings (including invertebrate counting) and Purple Sandpipers. Lemming nests were counted on some excursions.
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