Nlkolaev:Importance of UpperVolga peatland habitats for breedmg

The importanceof the peatlandsof the Upper area as habitats for breeding waders V.L Nikolaev

Nikolaev,V.I. 1998.The importance of thepeatlands of theUpper Volga area as habitats for breedingwaders. InternationalWader Studies 10: 291-298.

In theTver region 31 species were recorded and of these,19 species breed there, 11 species areconsidered rare and ten of theserare species breed in differentpeatlands. Golden Plover Pluvialisapricaria and Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus breed only on raised bogs, Marsh Tringastagnatilis and Great Snipe media breed only on fens. Ruff Philomachus pugnax, RedshankTringa totanus, Black-tailed Limosa limosa and Numenius arquata are widelydistributed on peat-bogs and have their maximum density on fens. Single breeding records ofJack Snipe Lymnocryptes minima are known for eutrophicand mesotrophic bogs. In thelast decadeTerek Xenus cinereus have started to breed on transformed peatlands. Wader speciescomposition and abundance vary considerably among peatlands of differenttypes due to differencesin theirsize, forest-cover and the presence of openwater areas. The large raised bogs, withcomplex habitats from marginal eutrophic parts to centralareas with peat-ridges and open waterareas, have the highest number of rarebreeding wader species (up to seven),although their densityis ratherlow (2.1+0.3pairs kin-2). The mostmarked fluctuations in numbersare found on smallbogs and in dryyears some species do not breed there at all. Eggand chick predation is higheron longnarrow bogs than on roundedones of the samearea. In recentdecades the increase in HoodedCrow Corvus cornix numbers at thebogs has negatively influenced the breeding success ofwader species. Overall, 160 bogs in theregion were excluded from drainage and peat-industry plansin the1980s and all forest-cuttingis planned to stopby 1993.With the development of anthropogenicactivities in theregion, the relative value of peatlandsas a habitatfor rarewader specieswill probablyincrease in the nearfuture.

V.I.Nikolaev, State Game Reserve, Konakovo district, ' region, 171274, .

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B Tnepc•o•o6aacT• 6•aa aaper•cTp•po•aH 5t • •ya•o•, •s •OTOp• i9 B•OBrHea•aTCa, tt Cq•Ta•TCapea•, c•a• •a•x •ao• tO raesaaTCa• pasa•qa•x TO•Sa•ax. 3oaor•cTas pma•KaPluvialis ap•ca•a u c•aaua K•amaen Nu•nius p•eo•s raesbsrcs .a sepxosb•x•aorax, nopyqeaau•Tnnga stag•alts • ayneab•11inago media •Ta•T TOab•o .a .uasaam •aorax.TypyxraaPhilo.&us pugs, rpasas• T•nga totanus, se•eaas• Ltmosalimosa • •abmo• •.mae. Numeniusarquata munro pacn•rpaae• TO•H•ax, Aocr•raaMaRc•MaAbHO• HAOTH•TH Ha HH3HHHb• •AoTax. •sBecTHb] e•uauqabIecayqau raeaaoMaus rapmaena Lymnoc•ptes mimmus .a enr•a• •eaot•abm •aotax. H•aeaaeea•stsaetse .a np•6paaonaaabixTop•sau•ax .aqaaa raeaguTbCflMo•yaRa Xe•s cinereus.8u•oBofi •TaB • q•caeHH•TbRya•ROB 3Haq•TeabBO MeBfl•TCflB •BHCHM•THOT paaabm THHOB TO•flHH•OB H3-3fl paaauqufi B ux nao•aAu, noR• • .aauquuOTRpb•b• BOy.MOB. Ha Rpynnbmnepxonbm •aoTax co 6uotona•u,ot entp•ab•x yqacTRos.a •pa• ao •eaTpaab• qacTefic Top,sarMa UOTRp•b•U •a•a•, o6utaeT•abmuacTno •g•ux Ryau•on(go cema nugon), XOTa naOTaO•bUXraeaao•aass aosoa•.o .sa•a (•,t•,5 nap/R•.Ca•Ie aa•eTabie qHcAeBH•THOTMeqa•TCfl Ha H•abmHX •aOTaX,rae s cyxueroab• .e•oropble suAb• so•e

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291 International Wader Studies 10. 291-298

Introduction visitingsome of the largepeat-bogs. About 500 questionnairesabout the birdswere circulated,and Waders,being one of themost diverse groups of informationfrom these and personal non-passerinebirds on peatlands,play an important communicationswith localinhabitants and game- rolein the functioningof peat-bogecosystems. The managers(more than 1,000people) were alsoused. importanceof peat-bogsas wader habitats is Routeswere planned taking into accountthe determinedby their environmentalcharacteristics, circularstructure of a peat-bogfrom its peripheryto their vulnerabilityto humanactivities, and the the centre(edge zone, strips of sparselow trees, acceleratedrates of reductionof the virginpeat-bog openareas, pool-ridge complexes etc.) thus making areasin manyparts of EuropeanRussia. it easierto locatesites which were usedby waders. Conservationof peat-bogsin economicallywell- On very largepeat-bogs several survey routes were developedregions is oneof the mostpromising used,crossing the widest parts with stopsin the waysof protectingrare waders and maintaining "forest-islands"within the bog. speciesdiversity. The mainbulk of the surveyswere conductedin the Themain objective of thisstudy was to evaluatethe breedingperiod during May to June,as later,there presentstatus and main trendsin wader was a ratherrapid departureof wadersto populationson the peat-bogsof theupper Volga neighbouringwater bodies and uplands.Visits river areawhich are affectedby humanactivities, were madein themorning, from sunriseuntil 10 or and analysethe role of peat-bogsfor the 11 am and in the evenings.Censuses were conservationof this groupof . Special conductedeither on a repeatedor on a singleroute attentionwas paid to collectingdata on distribution, numbers,population densities and habitat during the breedingperiod; all birdswere counted, regardlessof theirdistance from the observer.Each characteristicson the differenttypes of virginand censusroute was 10 to 15 km long, and their total transformedpeat-bogs of the studyregion. lengthwas 270km. Densitieswere estimatedlater, usingthe separate-groupmethod with calculations Study Area and Methods accordingto averageobservation distances (Ravkin The studies were conducted from 1980-1991 in the 1967). Densitieswere not estimatedfor the rarest upperVolga river area,mostly in Tver'region waderspecies. Abundance values were calculated (formerlyKalinin region) and partly in the in accordance with the area of defined habitats. In neighbouringareas of Novgorod,Pskov, Smolensk localareas with very high wader densities(pond- and Vologdaadministrative regions. Seventy peat- ridge andpool-ridge complexes), a nestmapping bogs,occupying a totalof about270,000 ha (45%of methodwas used, together with registrationsof the totalpeat-bog area in the region)were surveyed alarmingbirds (Durcz & Tomialojc1974; Svensson duringthe studies,67% of whichwere oligotrophic 1978). raisedbogs), 23% were eutrophicfens (eutrophic swamps),and 10%were mesotrophic bogs. The Results and Discussion vastraised bogs with ponds,pools and ridges Differentwader species use peat-bogs in different (coveringabout 1000 ha), which support the most ways:from rarevisits during migration,to regular diversewader fauna,due to their complicated structure, amount of water and absence of forests, breedingwithin thebogs. In the upperVolga area 31 wader specieshave been recorded, 18 of which were exploredthe mostcarefully. When selecting are moreor lessconnected with differenttypes of thepeat-bogs to be surveyed,we basedour virgin and/ortransformed peat-bogs, and 14 of selectionon data from a specialregional list of peat- whichbreed there (Table 1). Besidesthe species bogscompiled by theMinistry of Geologyfor the mentionedin Table1, JackSnipe Lymnocryptes peatindustry which contained the most complete minimaalso probably breed in the peat-bogsof the dataon typology, size, vegetation and the level of region. economicdevelopment for eachof thesepeat-bogs. No othermarshy habitats were exploredduring the presentstudy. Oligotrophicraised bogs Thistype of peat-bogprevails in the studyarea, In total, about 3,000 km were covered on foot and bothin the totalarea (67% of all peat-bogs)and in 200km wereexplored by boat. Themost detailed the sizeof individualbogs (on average580 ha). studieswere conductedon the bogsof the south- Almostall thebreeding areas of GoldenPlover westernand westernparts of the upperVolga area Pluvialisapricaria and WhimbrelNumenius phaeopus (Valdayupland), and in the areasof the Upper were locatedon the openbogs with pool-ridge Mologariver and the Volga-Shoshalowland. In complexeson theValday upland of thewestern otherareas, only certainselected peatlands were upperVolga area, which adjoins the breedingareas visited. of thesespecies in the Pskovand Novgorodregions, as well asin northernBelarus (Malchevsky & While planningthe surveyroutes, we analysed Pukinsky1983; Kozlov & Kuzmenko1989; 1:100,000scale topographic maps, plans of the peat- Mischenkoet al. 1991). The distribution and lands,and aerialphotos. Aerial observations from numbersof thesespecies are not stablebecause the smallplanes and helicopterswere madebefore studyarea is at the limitsof theirbreeding range: during the lastcentury they underwenta local

292 Nflcolaev:Importance of Upper Volgapeatland habitats for breedingwaders

Table1. Waderspecies composition in the upperVolga peatlands.

Species Raisedbogs: Mesotrophicbogs Eutrophicfens

transformed

peat bogs

Pluvialisapricaria

Charadrius dubius

Vanellusvanellus

Tringaochropus

Tringaglareola

Tringanebularia Tringatotanus Tringaerythropus Tringastagnatilis

Actitishypoleucos

Xenuscinereus Phalaropuslobatus Philomachuspugnax

Gallinagomedia Gallinagogallinago

Numeniusarquata

Numeniusphaeopus

Limosalimosa

' absentor not recordedat thistype of peat-bog; •' extremelyrare breeding species, only single records from some bogs known; '•'•' rarebreeding species, recorded in low numbers from most of the surveyed peat-bogs; '•"•"•' commonbreeding species, dozens of breeding pairs were recorded from most of the surveyed bogs; •r occursduring migration andpost-breeding movements only. expansionand increasedin numberseastwards Vanellusvandlus and GreenshankTringa nebularia. (Figure1). Accordingto publisheddata, in the first Lapwingwas not a regularbreeding species on half of the 20thcentury the GoldenPlover was raisedbogs a• the beginningof the 20thcentury recordedonly asa vagrantspecies to Tver' region (Stanchinsky1927), whereas now it is foundon most (e.g.Stanchinsky 1927; Tretyakov 1940). Breeding peat-bogsof thistype. Greenshankwas formerly a was confirmedthere for the first time in the early sporadicbreeding species of raisedbogs 1980s,on thebogs of the south-westernupper Volga (Stanchinsky1927; Zinoviev 1980), but hasnow area(Avdanin 1983). Whimbrelwere probably becomea commonbreeder and on somebogs breedingthere in smallnumbers before that, as recently,the mostcommon breeding wader youngbirds were being found (Zinoviev 1980). (Avdanin 1983). Recently,several hundred pairs of eachspecies were foundbreeding in the region. Breedingof Golden In general,the largestnumber of breedingwader Ploversand Whimbrelsfurther north in species(up to 11)was recordedin the westernupper regionhas not yet beenproved (Nemtsev 1988). Volgaarea, on vastraised oligotrophic bogs with pool-ridgecomplexes similar to the easternBaltic Significantchanges in numberswere foundin two bogtype. Mostof thesebogs represent a wide range otherwaders which inhabitthe peat-bogs:Lapwing of habitats,but pond-pool-ridgecomplexes are the

293 International Wader Studies 10: 291-298

"' . .•':61ogda*'c•Reg½)n ...... : Golden Plover 0 present •1• breedingconfirmed (nest or chicks)'i Whimbrel [--I present ß breedingconfirmed (nest or chicks) Novg6r'6d....t -' Region Region

S, .','2.

Pskov Region • '- . ' "' , 50km , •,,a4. 1. • • .'• •e•'•': ' * SmolenskRegion =ß . . Figure1. Main bogareas inhabited by rarewaders in theupper Volga area, and therecorded presence of breedingof GoldenPlover and Whimbrel.Dashed lines outline the mainbog complexes inhabited by rarewaders: 1 - Zharkovsko-Svitskyarea; 2 - Verkhnevolzhsko-Zapadnodvinsky(the upper Volga - theWestern Dviva) area; 3 - Shlinsko-Tsninskyarea; 4 - Molozhsko-Lesnoiarea; 5 - Verkhnemolozhsky(the upper Molga) area; 6 - Orshinskiyarea.

:: $.

"*,.•, ß :Yaroslavl' •...**Region

Figure2. Economicdevelopment of peatlandsin Tver'region and the mostimportant (key) bogs. Numbered circles show thebogs that were identified as Important Areas for BirdLife International'sProject. 1 - BudnyanskiyMokh (raisedbog; 3156 ha) 2 - ZharkovskiyMokh (raisedbog; 38863 ha) 3 - StakhovskiyMokh (fen;10296 ha) 4 - Kat'kinMokh (raisedbog; 3970 ha) 5 - DerzkiyMokh (raisedbog; 6704 ha) 6 - Chistik(up-river moor; 8402 ha) 7 - Zakaznik(raised bog; 1997 ha) 8 - OrshinskiyMokh (raisedbog; 30.000 ha) 9 - Savtsinskoye(fen; 4569 ha) 10 - The upperMologa complex (17.000 ha) I - zoneof intenseeconomic development of peatlands(most are drainagedand workedout) II - zoneof moderateeconomic development of bogs(about 50% of largepeatlands are exploited and drained) III- zonewith ratherwell-conserved peatlands (wood-cutting and drainagefor forestryprevail)

294 Nikolaev: Importanceof Upper Volgapeatland habitats for breedingwaders

number of breeding birds mostpreferred habitat of waders.All thenest-sites 14-

of Golden Plover and Whimbrel, and most of the 12- nest-sitesof Greenshank,Wood SandpiperTringa 104 glareolaand CurlewNumenius arquata were situated here. Thesewader speciesoften form mixed 8' compactcolonies consisting of 10 to 20 pairs. 6, Similar densities of waders inhabit the meso- eutrophicparts on the edgeof raisedbogs preferred by Lapwing,Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago and Black-tailedGodwits Limosa limosa, which are only 0 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 rarelyrecorded in the centraloligotrophic parts. Idryseason I urnidseason Idry season I Idry season I Extremelyrarely, Redshank totanus and Ruff • Lapwingin Gradkoye bog (4400 ha) Philomachuspugnax breed on the peatlands,in single ß - - ß Lapwingin Gorbachikhabog (260 ha) pairs,inhabiting only the edges;very rarely,single O O Curlewin Gradkoyebog (4400 ha) pairsof CommonSandpiper hypoleucos can O- - O Curlewin Gorbachikhabog (260 ha) alsobe found in the vicinity of oligotrophiclakes. Figure4. Changesin thenumbers of Curlewand Lapwing Wadersusually avoid the areascovered with low on differentsized raised moors in the upperVolga area sparsepines and low shrubthickets. 1985-1992. Scolopaxrusticola and GreenSandpiper Tringa ochropusnested in low numberson the forest (1.5+0.3km-2), Lapwing (1.3+0.5 km-2), Common "islands"within the bogs. Snipe(1.0+0.5 km-2), and Curlew(0.7+0.3 km -2) are the mostcommon species. As the sizeof the bogs The eastEuropean type of pine-Sphagnumpeatland, increases,there is a logarithmicincrease in the with densetree vegetation and ratherlittle water, numbersof breedingwaders; usually the bog has to whichprevail in the otherparts of the upperVolga exceed4,000-5,000 ha (r=0.89,p<0.01; Figure 3) to area are less attractive to waders due to their low hold the maximumnumber of species.However, if habitatdiversity (Zinoviev & Nikolaev 1988). The separateraised bogs are situatedclose to one proportionof boggyareas in the regiondecreases another(a bog-system),then individualbogs of from 12.0%- 1.4%eastwards, and the proportionof around 1,000 ha are sufficient. On the small and raisedbogs decreases from 60.4%- 1.4%in the same middle-sizedbogs (not morethan 1,000ha), annual direction, as does their size, and there is a fluctuationsin wadernumbers were sharperthan correspondingincrease in the degreeof human on the largepeatlands. In somedry seasons,some modificationof peat-bogs(Figure 2). This leadsto a wader speciesdid not breedthere at all, while in reductionin numbersof breedingwaders to only yearswith highprecipitation, the wader population five species,of which Greenshank,Lapwing and densitycan be two to threetimes higher than usual CommonSnipe are the mostcommon, with Curlew (Figure4). recordedmore rarely. The only exceptionis the vast The shapeof the peat-bogmay indirectlyinfluence number of species breedingsuccess in waders. On elongatedbogs 12 with a long perimeter,nest mortality was higher than on rounderbogs of a similarsize because the 10 nestsare moreaccessible both to men and ground

8' predators.

6' Mesotrophicpeat-bogs Only eightwader specieswere recordedon these 4- bogswhich are restrictedin distribution(10% of the

2 boggyarea), are smallerin size(on average110 ha) and supporta ratherlow habitatdiversity. 0 However,wader population density on mesotrophic 0 2 4 6 8 10 peat-bogsis higherthan on oligotrophicpeat-bogs: area of a bog (x 103ha) overalldensity averages 15.6+3.3 km -2, with Figure3. Therelationship between the number of breeding CommonSnipe (8.2+1.2 km-2), Lapwing (2.5+0.7 waderspecies and thesize of raisedbogs in theupper Volga km-2) and Greenshank(2.1+0.3 km -2) being the most area. Trendline fittedby eye. commonspecies. The highestdiversity and raisedbog, Orshinskiy Mokh, not far from Tver' populationdensity of waderswas foundnot on the town. There,in the easternundeveloped part, the uniform mesotrophicbogs, but on the mesotrophic mosteasterly colonies of GoldenPlovers and edgesof moorsand fens. The majorityof waders Whimbrelswere located,and ratherlarge numbers were nestingon the openSphagnum-sedge areas, but of and Black-tailed were WoodSandpiper, Greenshank and CommonSnipe observed. were alsofound in placesovergrown with pines and birches. The totalwader population density on the raised bogswas, on avera ge,6.0+1.6 km-. 2 Greenshank

295 International Wader Studies 10: 291-298

Eutrophic fens MarshSandpiper Tringa stagnatilis and GreatSnipe Thesepeatlands had similarnumbers of breeding Gallinagomedia were recordedbreeding. The latter two wadersrarely occuron fensand have only been wader speciesto the raisedbogs, but asthey are lesswidely distributed(23% of the boggyarea) recordedon the vastbog-flood-plain complexes of the Volga,, Zapadnaya Dvina, Shoshaand and are smallerin size (on average120 ha), their otherrivers. There,Great Snipe was recorded

Vo10gdagRegion

I--I Great Snipe A TerekSandpiper 0 MarshSandpiper

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...... Figure5. Breedingrecords of rarewaders Great Snipe, and MarshSandpiper in theupper Volga area. Opensymbols are recorded presence, filled symbolsare confirmed breeding (nests or downychicks found).

['-] Black-tailedGodwit /• Redshank 0 Ruff

.. ;: N0Vgo'm• ?' I : Regioni , --I•-,..•:• "¾arøslavl'C-Region

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ß,. . .•,• :':,-• :, •. . • .•,..,.• ...... • ...... ,•, ...... , ...... •.,;•. ß...... ,,,• .... Figure6. Breedingrecords of rarewaders Great Snipe, Terek Sandpiper and MarshSandpiper in theupper Volga area. Opensymbols are recorded presence, filled symbolsare confirmed breeding (nests or downychicks found). significancefor birdsis not ashigh. Eutrophicfens mostlyon wet flood-plainmeadows which have were the main breedinghabitat of CommonSnipe grass-herb-sedgevegetation and largenumbers of and Black-tailedGodwit, the numberof Lapwingis Lumbricidae worms. As in other areas of the forest two to four timeshigher than on othertypes of zone,this speciesis characteristicof the meadow peatlandsand they are the only habitaton which flood-plaincommunities (Nikiforov & Gybet 1987). In general,the flood-plainbog complexes support a 296 N•kolaev' Importanceof Upper Volgapeatland habitats for breedingwaders richerwader fauna than do the separatewatershed they becomemore attractive for breeding fens(Figures 5 & 6). Greenshankand CommonSnipe. Comparedwith othertypes of peatlands,the wader densityon the fensis the highest,averaging The large,already developed peat-pits of various 20.3+4.4krn -2, the commonestspecies being sizesand ages(20 to 90 yearsold) are at different CommonSnipe (9.3+1.5 km-2), Lapwing (6.0+1.8 stagesof vegetationand may have areas of rnoss kin-2),and (2.5+0.9 krn-2). Mixed floatingmats and mossislands, reed-beds and pine- coloniesof Lapwingand Black-tailedGodwit, birchthickets along the edges.This environmentis includingsingle pairs of Redshank,Ruff, Common betterfor breedingwaders, but asthese habitats are Snipe,Great Snipe, and Curlew are characteristic of accessibleto peopleand predators,disturbance, thistype of peatland.Such colonies can consist of clutchpredation and chick mortality are higher. 30-50breeding pairs. Green Sandpiperand Common Snipeare common there,and WoodSandpiper and Greenshankbreed The richest wader communities recorded on occasionallyon the floatingmats. individualfens were on thosebigger than 1,000ha whichprovided a mosaichabitat structure, from the The old peatproduction areas have partly, or mostly, blackalder Alnus glutinosa and birch Betula spp. losttheir importance as wader habitats due to associationsto the opensedge-moss floating mats, drying out and colonisationby treesand shrub bogsand waterbodies. The presenceof openlow- vegetationand are inhabitedby typicalforest birds. grassassociations is a requirementfor waders Drainagefor forestrypurposes also gradually breedingon fens. changesthe appearanceof naturalpeatlands as they dry out andthe openparts grow over with low Nest-sitesof waderson the boggyand almost shrubs,pines and birches,the areaof favourable impassablefens are better protected from habitatfor wadersis reduced.Only the Green disturbanceand predationthan those on the raised Sandpiperremains in suchareas. On the partly bogs. During the breedingperiod they aremostly transformedpeatlands, which cannot be completely unvisitedby people,due to the absenceof large dried out, the populationof wadersand otherfauna berry-fieldsand goodlakes for fishing,and limited is noticeablyimpoverished and doesnot rehabilitate hay-makingoccurs only on someof them(this was to a natural level. moreintense in the past). In contrastwith nearby dry meadows,regular spring floods here delay the Agriculturaldrainage mostly affects the fens breedingof wadersby an averageof two to three situatedin flood-plains,or within the agricultural weeks. landscape.Such fens suffer not only from drainage, but alsofrom fellingof trees,clearance of shrub Fenswhich are located in flood-plainsand lake vegetationand ploughing. In mostyears these areas depressionsare important as areas of wader are sownwith forageor cerealcrops. Distribution of concentrationsduring the migrationperiod. At the waderson peatlandsunder drainagebecomes Mologawetland complex, up to 3,000Ruff per day sporadicand their numbersquickly change. and flocksof up to 65 Black-tailedGodwit were Lapwingbecome more widespread and their recordedin the firstten-day period of May numbersincrease, and Little RingedPlover begin (Zinoviev& Orlova 1983). On the flood-plainfens breedinglocally on placeswith sparsevegetation. of the lower Shoshaand lower Inyukharivers Curlew remainin singlepairs on pasturesand (Ivan'kovskoyewater reservoir,eastern Tver' cloverfields and, like Redshank,Marsh Sandpiper region)up to 1,000Ruff, 200 Black-tailedGodwit, and Black-tailed Godwit can also breed in small, and 100Curlew per daywere recorded at the end of marshy(not completelydrained) depressions. The Augustand in September. majorityof thesewaders visit drainedhabitats only in searchof food. On drainedpeatlands, birds suffer Transformationof peatlandsand their from intensifieddisharbance, the use of agricultural conservationproblems machinery,pasturing, and high numbersof Hooded Intensifiedtransformation of peatlandsand their Crow Corvuscornix and Magpie Picapica. The dissectioninto smallfragments has been taking boggyhabitats of wadersin the centraland eastern placerecently. About 40% of thepeatlands are partsof the upperVolga area and in the flood-plains eitheralready managed or arenow under economic of largerivers (e.g.Mologa, Medveditsa, , development.The most drastic changes occur when Shoshaetc.) suffered most from economic milling cuttertechnology is used:not only is the development.In thewestern part of the regionthe vegetationelimL,•ated, but alsoa largeamount of after-effectsof forestmelioration were the strongest peatis takenand thus the bog changes into a wide, and the effectsof peatlanddevelopment were only local. flat field with numerousdrainage canals. Species of waderswhich bred hereformerly, with the exceptionof singlepairs of Lapwing,do not do so As the peat resourcesdecrease in mostof the anymore, but Little RingedPlover Charadrius dubius developedareas, new areas,often situated a and TerekSandpiper Xenus cinereus appear and considerabledistance from the centreof the peat- breedon the fieldsnear pools and drainagecanals. industryare being used. Thisincreases the threatto As thosefields which remainwet becomevegetated, the peatlands,which are important for wadersand

297 Internattonal Wader Studies 10: 291-298

otherbirds, including rare specieswhich may not be References known aboutby ornithologistsand conservationists. Avdanin,V.O. 1983. On the ornothologicalfauna of the The main measurefor the maintenanceof species Centralno-Lesnoi State Nature Reserve. In: V.I. diversityand numbersof wadersin the areaswhere Zinoviev(ed.), Influence of anthropogenic factors on peatlandsoccur, should be theprotection of their thestructure and functioning of ecosystems, pp. 3-4. habitatsby excludingpeatlands from economic Kalinin Univ., Kalinin. In Russian. developmentplans. Thelist of protectedbogs in Durcz,A., & Tomialojc,L. 1974.Application of the Tver' regioncontains 160 bog areas with a total area mappingmethod in themarshland habitats. of about330,000 ha. They areimportant, not only ActaOrnithologica 14, No 25:348-353. froman ornithologicalpoint of view,but alsofor the Kozlov, V.P., & Kuzmenko, V.Ya. 1989. Fauna and maintenance of the water table and conservation of populationof wadersof the raisedbogs of othernatural resources. Several of theseprotected BelarussianPoozerie. In: Dynamicsof zoocenoses, bogsare situatedwithin the Centralno-Lesnoi problemsof protection and the rational use of theanimal BiosphereReserve (south-western Tver' region), the worldof Belarus, p. 247. Abstractsof reports of 6th othersare under regional protection as landscape, ZoologicalConf. Minsk. In Russian. hydrological,botanical or zoologicalsanctuaries. Malchevsky,A.S., & Pukinsky,Yu.B. 1983. Birdsof The ten that are the most valuable, from an Leningradregion and neighbouring areas, Vol. 1. ornithologicalpoint of view,were suggested for LeningradUniv. Press,Leningrad. In Russian. inclusionin the list of ImportantBird Areas in Mischenko, A.L., Sukhanova, O.V., Nikolaev, V.I., & (Figure 2). Avdanin, V.O. 1991. To the evaluation of ornithologicalimportance of Polistovo-Lovatskaya It shouldbe takeninto accountthat many otherrare bogsystem. In: Materialsof the loth USSR bird species(Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos, Merlin OrnithologicalConf. Minsk, Part 2, Book2: 84-85. Falco columbarius,Black-throated Diver Gavia arctica, In Russian. BlackStork Ciconia nigra) completely depend on Nemtsev,V.V. 1988. Faunaof theDarvinsky Nature Reserve. thesemoorlands. This also increases the importance N.N.Skokova,(ed.), pp. 29-57.. In Russian. of peat-bogsas bird habitats.As thepeat-bogs do Nikiforov,L.P., & Gybet,L.A. 1987. Influenceof economic not havelarge, high qualitytimber resources and are therefore of low economic interest, it would be developmentof the riversideflood-plains on the bog game-birds.In: T.V.Koshkina (ed.), Influence of easyfor the forestministry to founda reservein this economicdevelopment ofwoodlands ofEuropean North area. In general,ornithological exploration should onanimal population, pp. 88-100.Nauka, Moscow. be carriedout before all theplanned activities of In Russian. peatlanddevelopment, and specialmanagement Ravkin, Yu.S. 1967. On the censusmethods of birds in plansshould be developedfor improvingthe bird foresthabitats. In: Natureof thetick encephalit hotbeds habitatson alreadytransformed peatlands. at theAltai, pp. 66-75. Novosibirsk.In Russian. Stanchinsky,V.V. 1927. Birdsof Smolenskprovince. Conclusion Scientificnews of SmolenskState University, 4: 217. Peatlandsrepresent one of the leastdeveloped and In Russian. mostvaluable habitats for wadersin the temperate Svensson,S. 1978. Forenklandrevirkarteringsmetod for woodlandzone. Thehighest diversity of wader inventeringan faglarpa myraroch mossar. Var faunais observedeither on the early (fens)or on the Fagelvarld37(1): 9-18. latest(moors) stages of bogformation. Economic Tretyakov,A.V. 1940. Ornothologicalfauna of Kalinin developmentof peatlandsleads to a reductionin region. Scientificnotes of Kalinin State Pedag. Inst., numbersand completecessation of breedingin the Kalinin. 9(2): 3-58. In Russian. majorityof wader species.The earlystages of Zinoviev,V.I. 1980. Birdsof the forest zone of the European successionon the transformedbogs do not provide partof USSR.(). Kalinin University the "typicalbog" waders with the necessary Press,Kalinin. In Russian. conditionsfor breeding,and thusthese species are Zinoviev,V.I., & Nikolaev,V.I. 1988. Comparative replacedthere by otherwidespread waders. An characteristicsofavifauna of eastern-Baltic and eastern- increase in direct human disturbance, such as use of Europeantypes of bogs. Abstracts of the12th Baltic off-roadvehicles, gathering of berries,game hunting OrnithologicalConference, Vilnus, pp. 82-84. etc.is currentlytaking place. Nevertheless, the role In Russian. of virgin peatlandsin wader conservationwill be Zinoviev,V.I., & Orlova,E.A. 1983. On the placesof moreand more important as human influences on concentrations of waterfowl and shorebirds in the bird habitatsintensify. upperVolga area. In: V.I. Zinoviev(ed.), Influence of anthropogenicfactors on thestructure and functioning Acknowledgements ofecosystems, pp. 3-4. KalininUniversity Press, Kalinin. In Russian. I'm very gratefulfor thelarge amount of helpand valuable advice of A.L. Mischenko, O.V. Sukhanova, and V.O.Avdanin during the field studies.I'm also very gratefulto to V.D. Kruchinin,who helpedto preparethe figures.

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