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RESPONDENT
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Mikhail Golovatin
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SITE NAME
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Voikar River middle reaches, Lower Ob' River area, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (34992)5-69-10(off.)/5-71-85(fax) // golovatin@ipae.uran.ru // Inst. of Plant and Animal Ecology, 8 Marta St, 202, Ekaterinburg, 620144, 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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2.05
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18.06
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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| Season phenology: |
average
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Weather conditions: |
| A pronounced spring warming in April resulted in rapid snowmelt, ice movements on small rivers and ice clearance near the banks of large rivers. The following spell of cold weather continued until 10 May, but then air temperatures were above freezing only during the day. Snowmelt was accelerated by rainy weather at the end of the second ten-day period of May, and, as a result, ice-break on the Voikar River took place on 23 May, which was close to the average date. Snow cover on flat areas reduced to 50% on 25 May and completely disappeared on 7 June. The weather became adverse suddenly in late May, when strong wind was accompanied by heavy snowfalls, replaced by pelting rains by mid June. The spring turned generally prolonged, and leaves on birch trees opened only by 19 June.
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
25.05
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
23.05
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
7.06
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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Owls were not recorded, with an exception of rare non-breeding Short-eared Owls. Breeding Northern Harriers, White-tailed Sea Eagles and Merlins were common, and a Northern Goshawk was observed.
Northern waders, Eurasian Golden Plovers, in particular, stayed in the area longer than usual in this spring, and flocks of Arctic Terns and skuas (primarily Long-tailed and single Arctic skuas) appeared in tundra habitats and remained there during the first half of June. Alarming behaviour was apparent in some pairs, but nests were not found. The appearance of these northern species was probably caused by cold conditions to the north of our study area.
Numbers of Willow Grouse continued to decrease and dropped below the long-term average. In contrast, abundance of Capercaillie was the record high for 18 years of observations. An increase in abundance of the Teal, Tufted Duck and Black Scoter was notable.
Among waders, numbers of Wood Sandpipers and Greenshanks were high, but the abundance of most other species decreased compared with 2006 and approached the long-term average. Numbers of almost all species of passerines also decreased, with the exception of thrushes (Redwing and Fieldfare) and Redpolls. The abundance of Sedge Warblers increased notably.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Numbers of voles (Microtus and Clethryonomys genera) were low.
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Rodent species recorded:
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| Latin | Abundance |
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| Microtus sp. | rare |
| Clethrionomys sp. | rare |
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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