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SITE NAME
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Pyasina River basin, Taimyr, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (3919)468504(h)/(3919)468693(o) // ya.kokorev@norcom.ru // Naberezhnaya Urvantseva 23-271, Norilsk, 663300, Russia
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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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10.07
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16.08
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1
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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| Season phenology: |
average
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Weather conditions: |
| Very warm weather establishe from 15 to 22 June on the western Taimyr, and temperature reached +26-28øC on some days. Ice broke in average time and passed quickly by 20 June on the Pysina River and its largest tributories. Prolonged cooling with temperature about +2-6øC and strong northern winds established from the end of June, and was interrupted by relatively calm warm weather on 14-16, 24-27 July and 11-16 August only. No rains occur in July, and plant vegetation was delayed. Tubdra remained dry and lacked green vegetation even in late July, while shaded slopes of springs and coombs were still snow-covered.
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
20-22.06
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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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| Arctic Foxes and Snowy Owls were not observed, while breeding Rough-legged Buzzards, skuas and Herring Gulls were very rare. Results of geese reporduction were low as they suffered from increased predation by Herring Gulls and skuas. Among waders abundance of breeding Grey and Pacific Golden Plovers was similar to average, while Ruffs, Pectoral and Curlew sandpipers, Dunlins, Little and Temminck's stints demontrated nesting behaviour less often than usual. Breeding Peregrine Falcons occupied 3 nests of 8 inspected on the Pura River, while new nests were found in the lower reaches of the Pyasina River. The latter broods contained 4 chicks more often than 3 which can be due to increased abundance of food (non-breeding waders) near the sea coast.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| High numbers of lemming undersnow nests evidenced their successful undersnow reporduction. However, durable thaw in the beginning and middle of May was followed by pelting rain even in the lower reaches of the Pyasina River. Tempeartures dropped to -20øC afterwards, and wet snow turned into ice preventing lemmings from access to food. Accordingly, Siberian Lemmings almost completely perished, while Collared Lemmings survived only in stony talus. An expected peak of lemming abundance in summer was not observed, and neither lemmings, nor signs of their activities were ever recorded during the whole period of studies.
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Rodent species recorded:
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| Latin | Abundance |
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| Lemmus sibiricus | rare |
| Dicrostonyx torquatus | rare |
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
| Distibution, numbers and breeding performance of the Peregrine Falcon were studied along the whole length of the Pyasina River and lower reaches of the Pura River. Data on numbers and breeding peroformance of geese were also collected.
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