Landscape and ecological differentiation of the fauna and bird population of Urup island (Big Kuril ridge)
A. A. Romanov1, E. A. Koblik1, Ya. A. Red’kin1, R. V. Kojemyakina1, V. O. Yakovlev2, I. A. Murashev1
1Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
2Russian Society for Conservation and Studies of Birds (Birds Russia), Moscow, Russia
Keywords: avifauna, population, range, distribution, species diversity, land, sea, Urup island, Kuril Islands
Abstract
Ecological regularities of Urup island landscape differentiation of avifauna and bird population are analyzed. The data were obtained in the 2019 expedition during the survey of the southern part of the Great Kuril ridge. The research was conducted in the vicinity of Novokurilskaya Bay in the North-East and the vicinity of Shchukin Bay on the Van Der Lind Peninsula in the southwest of Urup island. The survey was carried out by the method of route accounting on transects of unlimited width at altitudes of 0-200 m above sea level. In 2019 90 bird species have been recorded: 59 on the North-East and 56 on the South - West of the island. The similarity coefficient of local avifauna of the surveyed points ( n = 2), obtained by the Sorensen formula - 68 %. 38 % of species are widespread, 41 % locally, and 21 % are isolated foci. Six species were registered for the first time. Taxonomic structure of Urup avifauna, formed by species of 12 orders, corresponds to the zonal and landscape features of island territories located near the North-Eastern Eurasia. The number of species represented is dominated by Passeriformes (39 %), Charadriiformes (28 %) and Anseriformes (10 %) characteristic of the Boreal and Hypo-Arctic zones of the Palearctic. The zoogeographic originality of the local avifauna is due to the combination of elements of the Far Eastern island, Pacifical, Siberian, Chinese faunal complexes, Siberian-American and widespread species, as well as Japanese island endemics. Local avifauna is formed in the system of general zonal-landscape and altitude-belt patterns combining ecological groups of marine, land and mountain species. Mountain specifics of the avifauna defines species ( n = 9) that are ecologically closely related to land or water-near-water elements of the alpine landscape over the entire area of their range or a significant part of it. The bird population density of land habitats is 323-609 sp/km2 (on average - 466 sp/km2), on the coast and nearby sea area 774-2050 sp/km2 (on average - 1412 sp/km2). The similarity coefficients of bird populations are 20 % in land-based habitats and 17 % in the coastal-marine habitats. Pacific Swift, Buff-bellied Pipit, Arctic Warbler, Eurasian Nutcracker, Grey Bunting dominate in the forest and bush habitats. Harlequin Duck, Glaucous-winged Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Pacific Swift, Buff-bellied Pipit, Black-backed (White) Wagtail dominate in the coast and the adjacent sea area. In open sea areas, the most common are Black-footed Albatross and Laysan Albatross, Northern Fulmar, Short-tailed Shearwater and Common Murre.
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