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SITE NAME
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Pyasina River, lower reaches, Taimyr Peninsula, 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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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| Spring seemed to be very late and about 50% of the area was still snow-covered on 25 June. Later on, however, the weather was generally mild with the air temperature often exceeding +20øC (up to +30øC).
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
25.06
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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: |
average
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Breeding conditions:
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| Pomarine Skua bred densely (c. 2 nests/km2). Snowy Owl and Rough-legged Buzzard bred also. Wader densities appeared to be rather low, probably as a result of the late spring. Little Stint was the most numerous breeding wader (up to 60 nests/km2 on a 0.25 km2 plot), followed by the much less numerous Curlew Sandpiper and Pacific Golden Plover. Dunlin, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Red-necked Phalarope and Grey Phalarope were all scarce. Ringed Plover bred along the sea shore (0.6 pairs/km). Clutch predation by Arctic Foxes was very heavy, and c. 80% of nests were eventually predated. Such heavy fox predation in a lemming peak-year was surprising and might be the result of rapid declines in lemming numbers in late June and/or the presence of a specialised fox individual in the study area.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Lemmings were extremely numerous in mid-June when snow melted, but the population crashed afterwards and not many animals survived to mid-July.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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