Simonov, Sergey Projects

Record length for the Old World in the borders of one state of the Russian Federation (RF) is reflected in the ranges of many bird species. The qualitative and quantitative characteristics of avifauna, as well as the degree of exploration of the territory, at the level of RF subjects are heterogeneous and largely due to the territorial position. In such circumstances, unification, as a method of bringing data to a uniform system, is an effective way of making a general picture of avifauna and its dynamics. Among the RF subjects, Karelia is one of the promising regions of interest as a platform for summarizing the accounting and descriptive data for the analysis of the dynamics of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of avifauna over the last century. It is promoted by such factors as (1) geographical location (being in seamless landscape and geographical connection with the countries of Fennoscandia, Karelia has always attracted researchers of a wide range of specialties), (2) vast expanse in the latitudinal direction and highly mosaic landscapes (resulting in increased species richness), and (3) the existence of research, educational and conservation organizations that study the species composition and abundance of birds. These factors have contributed to numerous research projects to identify species composition and numbers of birds in different parts of Karelia, long-term study of biology of individual species, and a number of ornithological studies of phenological character. Much of the obtained data has been reflected in publications, however, the local character of the publications and the abundance of collected field material available in electronic and analogue archives are promising data for studying the dynamics of species composition and number of birds in Karelia. Programmes to study trends in the number of birds in neighbouring territories such as Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme covering 170 of the most common Old World species; Winter Bird Census organized in Finland similarly to the winter track counting in Karelia; programmes of the European Bird Census Council, cover only the territories adjacent to the west. At the same time, the observed bird population trends, often occur due to the nature of economic activity, active deforestation, introduction of monocultures, predominance of disturbed areas and other anthropogenic factors, cannot be applied unconditionally to representatives of avifauna in Karelia. In Karelia, these effects are attenuated by other types of logging, vast protected areas, areas of temporary limitation of fellings, and the presence of a large number of hard-to-reach areas. Making a current picture of the state of Karelian avifauna with observed population trends throughout the long history of the study is an urgent task for the Republic and the North-West of the RF as a whole. The achievability of the task and its scientific novelty for the region are determined by the approaches used: maximum coverage of accumulated materials, application of modern methods of data analysis and search of optimal models of description of observed trends, restoration of the spatial and geographical structure of accounting routes using GIS, verification and supplementing of data series with the results of new studies in compliance with the primary methodology and location.