Term Changes in Wader Populations at the Lapland Nature Reserve and Its
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Internattonal Wader Studtes 10. 170-174 Long-term changesin wader populations at the Lapland Nature Reserveand its surroundings:1887- 1991 A.S. Gilyazov Gilyazov,A.S. 1998.Long-term changes in waderpopulations at the LaplandNature Reserve and its surroundings:1887-1991. International Wader Studies 10:170-174 Long-termchanges in the statusof breedingwaders at the LaplandNature Reserve on the Kola Peninsula(67ø60'N, 31ø55'E) have been demonstrated by thecomparison of publishedstudies in 1887,1948 and 1991.The number of wader speciesrecorded in the LaplandNature Reserve has increasedduring the last 50 yearsmostly due to theoccurence of northernand southern vagrant species.Anthropogenic changes in the environmenthave resulted in the appearanceof Lapwing Vanellusvanellus - a southernspecies. Other vagrant species can also breed irregularly. Golden PloverPluvialis apricaria, Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago and Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus 1obatuswhich were rare 50 yearsago have increased in numbersand become common. A steady declinein numbershas been observed in GreenshankTringa nebularia, Whimbrel Nurnenius phaeopus,and Bar-tailed Godwit Lirnosa lapponica. This is possiblyconnected with negative environmentalchanges on theirmigration routes and/or wintering grounds. Fluctuations in numbersof somewader species can be relatedat leastpartly, with smallrodent population cycles. AlexS.Gilyazov, Lapland Nature Reserve, Zelenyi per., 8, Monchegorsk,Murmansk region, 184280, Russia. F•aasos,A. C.t998. Aoarocpoumae •s•!eHeH•a s nonyaatJ•ax•ya•os s Aanaa•I•C•OM sanose•H•e;t ero ogpec?HOC?ax:t887-t99t. InternatWnal Wader Studies 10: 170-174. •,oarocpo,m•ae•sMeHe•ms s craryce rHesAsu•xcs aya•aos s AanaaH•CKOMsanose•H•ae Ha Koa•caoMnoayoc?pose (67%0' c.m., 5tø55 ' s.&) 6bias npo•eMOHC?pspoBa,b• Me?O•OM cpaBHeHsspa6oT, ony6asaosaHH•x s t887, t948 s t99i rr. qscaoss•os ayam•os, saperscTpsposaHH•xs AanaaH•caoM sanose•Hsae, sospocao sa nocae•Hse 50 aeTs nepsy•o oqepeAbsa cqeTsaae•'os cesepH•x s •ox,•x ss•os.AH?ponoremI•e ssMeHeHss s oapy•a•o•efi cpe•enoseas a nossaeHs•o•o•Horo ss•a - ,•s6scal/anellus vane#us. MoryT HeperyamIO r•Ies•s•rbcss •pyrse saaeTHb•e ss•a. 3oao?sc?asp•aHaa Pluvtal•s aprrearm, 06•KHOSeHma• 6eaacGal#nago gallinago • •pyrao•Iocb•finaasy•Iqm• Phalaropus lobams, 6•,mume pe•a•MS 50 set uasaa,sospocas s qscae s cTaasO•blKHOBeHHblMI!. C Apyrofi CTOpOH•, 6•a o•'Me,•e•I nOC?OSHH•cnaa q•CaeHHOC?• 6oabuIoro yas?a Trfnga nebularia, cpea.ero KpOHtUHena Numeniusphaeopus s •aaoro sepeTeHHsaaLimosa lapponica, qTO, BO3MO)KHO, csssauo c HeraT•SHb•M•H3MeHeltI4,qMI4 Boapyma•o•efi cpeae Ha SX ny?sx npoaeTa s/sas s MecTax S•MOBOK.Koae6aHss q•caeHHocT• HeKo?opb•x S•AOB ayaSKOS Mory? 6brrb CsSSaHb•, no apafiHe•i •epe qaCTllqltO, C nonyast•SOHH•S •saaa•s •eaKsX rpb•syHOS. Introduction (Vladimirskaya1948) and 110years ago (Pleske 1887). Thesehistorical data were analysedto The LaplandNature Reserveis situatedin the determinethe reasonsfor the observedchanges in westernpart of the mountainarea of the Kola status. We were mindful of the fact that these peninsulaand occupiesan areaof 2,784km 2. reasonscould be eitherobjective or subjective.Thus, Mountain tundra covers 28% of the reserve area, Pleske (1887) based his own observationsmade forests- 60%,peat-bogs - 8 % and water bodies- 4% during the summerof 1880on the describedroute (Figure1). During the ornithologicalinventory in "western coast of the White Sea - Kandalaksha - the the reserve(Semyonov-Tien-Shansky & Gilyazov Imandra lake (easternshore) - Kola", and also on the 1991)noticeable changes in specieslist, distribution, numerouspublished data for the whole of Lapland status,and numbersof wadersinhabiting the from the Gulf of Bothnia and the Thorneo river in reserveand its surroundingswere recordedin the southand west,up to the Arcticocean coast and comparisonwith the situationboth 50 yearsago the White Seain the north and east. Vladimirskaya 170 Gilyazov: Long-termchanges in wader popttlationsat the LaplandNature Reserveand its surroundings:1887 - 1991 ßß ß ß ß ß ß ß ß ß ß m Nature reserve boundary Researchstations onthe reserve mlm[m[m[m[mlmlmlmWader census routes Figure 1. Schematicmap of the studyarea. (1948)used data collected between 1930-1939 only wader sectionof which was written by the late O.I. in the reserveand on adjacentareas in the central Semyonov-Tien-Shansky.Studies on bird part of the Kola peninsula.No data on the birdsof populationsin the lowland tundraswere conducted lowland tundras and the marine coasts of the in June1990 in the easternpart of the Kola peninsulawere givenin the latter publication,nor peninsula(200 km to the eastfrom the reserve); oursof 1991. Therefore,the specieslist givenby thesedata were usedfor comparisonwith bird Pleske(1887) is longerdue to its coverageof a larger populationsat the reserve.The list of wadersand geographicalarea with a greaterhabitat diversity. their statusfrom publicationsin 1887,1948 and 1991 is given in Table1. Belowwe discussonly those Our observationsin the LaplandNature Reserve speciesfor which therewere changesin status, and its surroundings(not morethan 20 km from the numbers and distribution. reserve boundaries) were undertaken between 1976- 1992. Studieswere carried out from May to SpeciesAccount Septemberin four areaslocated in differentparts of the reserve: at the Vite river, the Chuna river and Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria the Konyariver valleysand at the Chunalake. As Only twicein the 1930shave Golden Plover been wader numberswere rather low, mostlytransect recorded in the nature reserve: on 28 June 1936 and census methods were used. Constant transects were 27 August1937 at the E1-NyunMount; at that time up to 20 km longin themountain tundras, 130 km - it wasnot breeedingthere (Vladimirskaya 1948). in the river valleys. Waderswere countedon 200m Sincethe 1960sit becamea rathercommon breeding band transects.Additional single route censuses speciesat the mountaintundra habitats,elfin birch were made to estimatemore precisely the woodlandson mountainslopes, and on the vast distributionand numbersof rare and sporadically tussockypeat-bogs with a prevalenceof occurringwaders. Materialsfrom NatureChronicle Cloudberries Rubus chamaemorus and Crowberries and a card-index database maintained on the Empetrumnigrum among sparse stunted pine reservesince the 1930swere alsoanalysed, together forests.Comparative data on the speciesrelative with data usedfor the latestmonograph abundance based on all observations since the 1930s (Semyonov-Tien-Shansky& Gflyazov 1991), the are shown in Tables 2 and 3. 171 International Wader Studies 10: 170-174 Table 1. Long-termchanges in wader populationat the LaplandNature Reserveand its surroundings,with datesof the first recordsof new species(V - vagrant,NB - non-breeding,B - breeding). Pluvialissquatarola V V Pluvialisapricarius NB B Charadrius hiaticula B B Charadriusvociferus# V 4 August 1970 Charadrius morinellus B B Vandlus vanellus B 1 August 1959 Haematopusostralegus V 31 May 1969 Tringaglareola B B Tringaochropus B 6 May 1977 Tringa nebularia B B Tringatotanus B? 6 June 1979 Tringaerythropus B B Actitishypoleucos B B Xenus cinereus - V 22 July1962 Phalaropuslobatus V B Arenariainterpres - B? July1977 # Philomachuspugnax B B Calidris temminckii B V Calidris minuta - V 7 August 1960 Calidris maritima - V 27 September1958 Calidrisferruginea V V Calidrisalpina - B 27 May 1965 Limicolafalcinellus - B 18 July 1964 Lymnocryptesminimus B B Gallinagogallinago NB B Scolopaxrusticola V V Numeniusphaeopus B B Numeniusarquata - V 18 May 1975 Limosalapponica B V # - recordis doubtfuland not proven Analysisof 1981-1992census data revealed rather Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus regularnumerical fluctuations from 0.7 ind./km2 up The firstrecord of thisspecies was on 6 May 1977at to 5.0 ind./km2, which repeatedin every4-5 years the Severnyycreek, and the sameyear we managed and coincidedwith populationcycles of small to find two unfledgedchicks (with an adult)among rodents.This was obviouslya secondary sedgessurrounding a small lake in the Chunariver connection,as a consequenceof predationon valley. LaterGreen Sandpipers were regularly GoldenPlovers clutches. Density of GoldenPlovers observedin variousparts of the naturereserve (in in the upperreaches of the Iokangariver was on the valleysof the Chuna,Konya, and Ulynch-Yavr average3.2 ind./kin2 in June1990. In generalno rivers), and severaltimes broods were also found. changeshave been found in numbersand The speciesprefers the taiga parts of rivervalleys. distributionsince 1976: for example,up to five pairs No birdswere found during our studiesat the were regularlybreeding since 1976 on the E1-Nyun Iokangariver valley. Mount of the reserve. Redshank Tringatotanus Lapwing Vanellusvanellus Redshanks were recorded for the first time on 6 For the firsttime four Lapwingswere recordedin June 1979 at the Okht-Ozero lake, later also in the the naturereserve on 1 August 1959at the Okht- samearea at the Ulynch-Yavrand Nyavka lakesand Ozero lake, since then birds have been recorded the Chuna river. When we visited these areas in regularly- mostlyin April-May. Lapwingshave followingyears they were usuallyobserved there beenfound alsoin otherplaces in the Kola again. We supposedthese birds were breedingon peninsula:at the Aynovy Isles(Tatarinkova & the basis of their behaviour. A nest, on which a Chemyakin1965), at the Kitsariver in 1978(A.B. femalewas incubatingthree eggs, was foundon 16 Braginpets. comm.), and on 13 July1990 near the June1990 in the Iokangariver