BREEDING CONDITIONS REPORT, 1993


RESPONDENT

N. Alekseeva

SITE NAME

Khanovey field station, middle Yamal, Russia

Contact details (phone/fax//e-mail//address):
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PROJECT DETAILS

Project name:

Start of survey:

End of survey: Team size:


WEATHER CONDITIONS

Season phenology: average

Weather conditions:

The timing of spring was normal with no late frosts recorded. By 8 June 90% of tundra was free from snow and river ice had disappeared by 9 June. On 10-11 June extremely high water levels were recorded which resulted in a large part of the study plot being flooded. Summer was warm, unusually dry, and without sharp temperature drops.

 

Season temperature: warm
Season humidity: dry
Date of 50% snow-cover:
Date of ice-break on rivers:
Date of final loss of snow:

BIOTIC CONDITIONS

Rodents abundance evaluation:

low

Breeding conditions:

Arctic Foxes and other terrestrial predators were almost absent. Skuas bred at low densities, and during the whole season a lot of nomadic birds were present. On the whole conditions were favourable for wader breeding. Slight decreases in breeding density of some waders (Ruff, phalaropes) was probably connected with the loss of clutches during the spring flood, which happened exactly at the time of egg-laying. Little Stints did not breed. The average breeding success of waders was rather high: chicks hatched in 87% of nests (n=37). Incubation success calculated according to Mayfield-Paevsky method (n=40 nests) was 90%. The most noticeable failures happened in the post-nesting period, when skuas and buzzards fed on bird chicks due to the lack of rodents.
 

Rodent dynamics:

Numbers of rodents, especially lemmings, were extremely low.

Rodent species recorded:

LatinAbundance

Summary of fauna studies:

 

FAUNA IN THE STUDY AREA

Group of speciesPresenceAbundanceBreedingDetailed studiesComment
arctic foxesYesrare   
lemmingsYesrare   
wadersYes hatchingYes 
buzzardsYes    
skuasYesrarebreeding many nomadic

 

SEABIRD COLONIES

speciesComment

 

WATERBIRD NON-BREEDING AGGREGATIONS

speciesAggregation typeNumberComment

 

HUMAN ACTIVITY IN THE STUDY AREA

Human activityComment

 


Source(s):

Tomkovich, P.S. 1998. Breeding conditions for waders in Russian tundras in 1993. International Wader Studies 10:124-131.

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 Last updated: 11 Dec. 2008  

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