View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital.CSIC Landusechangesandraptorconservationinsteppehabitatsof EasternKazakhstan Jose´ AntonioSa´ nchez-Zapataa,*,MartinaCarreteb,AndreiGravilovc,SergeiSklyarenkoc, OlgaCeballosd,Jose´ AntonioDona´ zard,FernandoHiraldod aA´ readeEcologı´a,DepartamentodeBiologı´aAplicada,UniversidadMiguelHerna´ndez,CtraBenielkm3.2,Orihuela,Alicante,Spain bDepartamentodeEcologı´aeHidrologı´a,UniversidaddeMurcia,30100Espinardo,Murcia,Spain cInstituteofZoology,Akademgorodok,480060Almaty,Kazakhstan dEstacio´nBiolo´gicadeDon˜ana,CSIC,Avd.Marı´aLuisas/n,Pabello´ndelPeru´,41013Sevilla,Spain Abstract SteppehabitatsincentralAsiahavesufferedimportantlandusechangesduringthiscenturywhicharesimilartothosethathave beenpointedoutasthecausesofthedeclineofsteppebirdsinwesternEurope.DuringJune1999weconductedroadsurveysof raptorsinEasternKazakhstantodetectspecificandcommunityresponsestolandusechanges.Wedetected11speciesofraptors. Kestrels(Falconaumanni and tinnunculus)werethemostcommonspeciesingrasslandsandagriculturallandscapes,harriers(Circus pygargus and macrourus)weredominantinsalinesteppesandsteppeeagles(Aquilanipalensis)weredominantindrysteppes.There werefewerspeciesinagriculturalhabitatsthaningrasslandandsteppehabitats.Ground-nestingraptorswerenegativelyaffectedby landusechangesandfourspecieswereneverdetectedinagriculturalzones.Raptorabundancepatternsdifferedbetweennatural steppehabitatsandhuman-transformedhabitats,whereapatchydistributionwasdetected.Thefutureofraptorcommunitiesin Kazakhstanseemsuncertainalthoughtheprogressiveabandonmentofintensiveagriculturemaybenefitspeciessensitivetohuman presence.Thelong-termconservationofvertebratecommunitiesmaydependuponthemaintenanceofecologicallyandsocially sustainablegrazingsystems. Keywords: Steppes;Raptors;Habitattransformation;Grazingsystems;Kazakhstan 1. Introduction inextensivefarmingsystemsofwesternEuropethat resemblenaturalgrassyhabitats(Goriup,1988;Sua´ rez The response of birds to habitat changes has etal.,1997;Blancoetal.,1998;Tellaetal.,1998;Tella been a central topic in conservation biology and andForero,2000)whereitisconsideredthat76%of landscape ecology has widely centred on forest avianspecieslinkedtonaturalorsemi-naturalEurope fragmentationintemperatehabitatsofEuropeand steppehabitatsaresufferingpopulationdeclines(Sua´ rez North America (Wilcove, 1985; Saunders et al., etal.,1997). 1991; McGarigal and McComb, 1995). More LargeOldWorldnaturalsteppeareasremain,how- recently,ecologisthavepaidattentiontochangesin ever,incentralAsia(mainlyKazakhstan,Mongoliaand openhabitatssuchasshrubsteppes,grasslandsand Russia)wherethereislittleinformationavailableonthe extensivefarmingsystems(Herkert,1994;Bignaland effects of land-use changes on bird communities McCracken,1996;PainandPienkowski,1997;Sua´ rezet (Bragin,1999)althoughthishabitatisastrongholdfor al.,1997;SutterandBrigham,1998;Ormerodand globallyrareraptorssuchaslesserkestrels(Falconau- Watkinson,2000;Wolffetal.,2001).Researchonavian manni)orimperialeagles(Aquilaheliaca)(delHoyoet responsestosteppetransformationhasbeencarriedout al.,1994;Parretal.,2000).There,largetransformations insteppeandsemi-desertweremadeduringthemiddle *Correspondingauthor. of20thcenturywhentheUSSR.administrationpro- E-mailaddress: [email protected](J.A.Sa´ nchez-Zapata). motedtheso-called‘‘upturnofvirginlands’’.Thus, from1954to1965,andevenlater,mostpartsof 2. Methods northernhumidsteppesweretransformedintoagri- culturallands(E.Bragin,personalcommunication). 2.1.Studysite Inaridsouthernzones,irrigationprogramstrans- formedhugeextensionsofsemi-desertalongtheSyr Thestudywasconductedbetween12and28June DaryaRiverintointensiveagricultureathighecolo- 1999inEasternKazakhstan(CentralAsia,Fig.1).The gicalcost,includingareductionintheextentofthe climateiscontinental,withverycoldwinters(when AralSeaandthecontaminationandsalinizationof temperaturesremainunder0 Cformonths),andwarm soilsandwaterbeds.InEasternandNorthernKazakh- summers.Theconditionscanalsobeconsideredasarid stan,largeextensionsofsteppesanddrysteppeswere orsemiaridwithannualrainfall <300mm.Theextreme transformedintoextensiveagriculturefollowingpro- temperaturesandrainfalllimitthegrowthoftreespe- gramstochangethenomadicwayoflifeofKazakh cies(Walter,1981)andlandscapeisdominatedby shepherdstosedentaryandagriculturalsettlements. steppeandsemidesertplainsandhillswithgrassesand Thesechangesmayhavealsoinfluencedtheecologi- smallbushes,whereastreesareconfinedtofoothillsof calprocessesofsteppes.Inspiteofsuchtransforma- largemountains(TienShaninthesouth,Altaiand tions,thesizeofthecountryandthelowhuman Alatulintheeast)oraroundhumansettlementsand densityhasallowedthepersistenceoflargesteppe rivervalleys. zoneswithlittleornohumaninfluence.Furthermore, Weconsideredfourdifferenthabitattypesinthe humanpopulationhasbeendecreasingoverthelast studyarea: yearsandsomeagriculturalareashaveundergonea recoveryprocessintonaturalsteppes.By1992the 1.Agriculturallandscapes(AGRI).Thelandscape liberalization of theeconomywasunderway,agri- isdominatedbycerealsandirrigatedcrops, culturewasrapidlydecreasingand >50%ofploughed managedpasturelands,citiesandvillages.There landinsteppeshadbeenabandoned.Furthermore,asin arealsonumerousherdsincludingsheep,horses otherInnerAsiacountries,livestockhadbeenpriva- andcows.Smallwoodsandscatteredtreefor- tizedandherdingcollectivesdismantled(Ferna´ ndez- mations are frequent around large villages Gime´ nez,1999a). (>1000inhabitants)andalongsomeroads. Inthispaperweexaminehowland-usetransforma- 2.Seminatural grasslands (GRASS). Here the tionsofdryKazakhsteppeshaveaffectedthebreeding landscapeisdominatedbyextensivelivestock communityofbirdsofprey.Raptorsareusuallycon- andsomeextensiveagriculture,butvillagesare sideredastoppredatorswhosepresenceandrichness smallwith <500inhabitants.Therearemany indicatehealthyecosystems(seeNewton,1979;butalso abandonedfieldsanddegradedsteppeareas. Rodrı´ guez-Estrellaetal.,1998).Inaddition,raptorscan 3.Salinesteppe(SAL).Thishabitatincludeslarge bedetectedwithrelativeeasecomparedtomoreelusive salinesteppeandmarshesinthevicinityofBal- organisms.Thus,indicesofraptorabundancehavebeen jashandAlakolLakes.Vegetationisdominated widelyusedtoassesstheimpactofhuman-induced byvarioussalineshrubs(Sarcocornia spp. Scir- transformationswithinavarietyofhabitats,ecosystems pus spp. Artrocnemum spp)andreedbeds Phrag- andbiomes(Burnhametal.,1990;Ellisetal.,1990; mites spp.withsparsetrees(Populustremula, Rodrı´ guez-Estrellaetal.,1998).Theseindicesallowus Eleagnushortensis). toexamineifraptorabundancefollowsspatialpatterns 4.Drysteppes(STEPPE).Thisincludeslargeareas thatcanberelatedtoapatchyorhomogeneousdis- ofnaturaldrysteppeswithlittleornohuman tributionofresources.Theidentificationofthesepat- presence.Treesarelackingandthevegetationis ternscanbemadethroughspatialautocorrelation dominatedbygrassesandforbs(Artemisia spp., approximations(LegendreandLegendre,1998),asta- Limonium spp., Salsola spp., Ephedra spp., tisticalapproachwidelyemployedinplantecologybut Haloxylon spp.).Therearealsosparserocky stillpoorlyknownamongvertebrateecologists(see outcrops. LegendreandFortin,1989). Summarizing,ourspecificaimswere:(i)todescribe 2.2.Roadcounts thebreedingraptorcommunitiesoftheKazakhsteppe ecosystems;(ii)totestifraptordistributionpatternsare ThesurveyswereconductedinJune1999:habitat1 repeatedalonghabitatswithdifferentdegreesofaltera- (504kmbetweenAlmatyandBeskol(AlakolLake); tion;and(iii)toanalysetheeffectsofsteppetransfor- habitat2(142kmbetweenAqtoghayandAyako¨ zand mationontheabundanceandcompositionofthese closedtoZaysanLake);habitat3(89kminfloodplains communitiesanddiscussfutureconservationscenarios aroundBaljashandAlakollakes)andhabitat4(155 forraptorsinsteppehabitats. aroundBaljashLake). landuses.Asweregisteredthenumberofraptors detectedateachkmoftransect,weusedaPoissondis- tributionaserrorandlinkfunctions(Vincentand Haworth,1983;Nichols,1989;Dona´ zaretal.,1993a,b; Sa´ nchez-ZapataandCalvo,1999).ForGLMsweused theprogramSTATISTIX(AnalyticalSoftware,1992). Finally,becauseoflowdataavailableonhumanset- tlements(e.g.herdsorhumanpopulation)weanalysed spatialpatternsofraptorassemblagebymeansofspa- tialautocorrelogramswithMoran’sIndexasauto- correlationstatistic(Legendre,1993;Garcı´ a-Charton andPe´ rez-Ruzafa,1999),usingtheprogramauto- correlationincludedinthe‘‘R’’v.3package(Legendre andVaudor,1991).Foreachhabitatcategoryweper- formedsuccessivetestscomparingsimilaritybetween pairsofsitesseparatedbyincreasingdistances,from1 km(lowestdistanceclass)tohalfthetotallengthofthe roadcensus,withthatobtainedfrompairsofsitesran- domlyselected.Moran’sindexvariesbetween+1and Fig.1.Studyarea. À1andiscomparabletoaPearsoncorrelationcoeffi- cient.Values >0representsimilaritiesbetweenpoints Roadsidecountsweredonefollowingmethodswidely greaterthanexpectedfromrandom;those <0repre- employedinsimilarstudies(seee.g.FullerandMosher, sentinganoppositetrend.Significanceofthetestswere 1987;Dona´ zaretal.,1993a,b;Travainietal.,1995).The determinedattwolevels.First,weperformedaglobal averagedrivingspeedwas40–50km/h.Werecorded testbycheckingwhethertheautocorrelogramcontained everyraptorseenandthekmintervalwheretheywere atleastonevaluethatwassignificantatthe =0.05/n observed.Inafewcasesitwasnecessarytostopthe Bonferroni’scorrectedlevelformultipletests(Legendre vehicletoidentifythebirds(Ellisetal.,1990).Inthis andLegendre,1998).Second,thestatisticalsignificance case,wedidnotrecordnewbirdsobservedduringthe ofeachMoran’sindexwasexaminedbycomparingthe stop.Inthecaseofsteppeeagles(Aquilanipalensis),we