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SITE NAME
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Novaya Zemlya, extreme south small islands, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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20.06
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25.07
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2
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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| Season phenology: |
average
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Weather conditions: |
| Spring phenology and summer weather generally did not differ from average. Temperature was dropping to freezing point until July and storm winds were not rare, but almost no rains were recorded.
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| Season temperature: |
average
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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Numbers of lemmings, Arctic Foxes and Snowy Owls were minimal (1, 3 and 1 seen, respectively). Rough-legged Buzzards were not seen. A nest of Great Skua was found on Bolshoy Pynin island, and another on Zhongolevicha island, but other species of skuas were rare and did not nest.
Common Eider clutches averaged 4.21 egg (n=189) which was large compared with 3.8 in 1994 (n=389) and 3.5 in 1995 (n=68). Current number of breeding Eiders is very low compared with at least 8000 females nesting on the extreme south of Novaya Zemlya in 1940-44 (Demme-Ryabtsova 1952), when numbers of predators were under strict control and artificial shelters protecting Eiders from gulls were installed on the principal colonies. Waterfowl reproduction in 2001 was delayed due to prolonged presence of pack ice near many islands, and first broods of Bean Geese and Common Eiders were seen on 14 and 22 July, respectively (10 days later compared to 5-year average determined for Eiders by Demme-Ryabtsova (1952)). Many nests of waterfowl and gulls were predated, primarily by Polar Bears. Almost all successful nests of Common Eiders and Barnacle Geese were constructed on the rocks inaccessible for terrestrial predators. Substantial fraction of nests on a few very small islands not visited by bears was predated by gulls, primarily Glaucous.
Two found nests of waders included one of Little Stint and one of Turnstone. Colonies of Arctic Terns were successfully breeding on Zharkova, Gagachy, Severny Krasny and Pynin islands. Five nests of Red-breasted Mergansers were found in tern colonies, which provided first evidence of the species breeding on Novaya Zemlya.
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Rodent dynamics:
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
| Using motor boat more than 40 islands were surveyed, including those where industrial collection of eider dawn was carried out in 1930s-40s.
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