Influence of Forest Environment Factors on Ornithocomplexes of the Valleys of the Large Tributaries of the Ob River (Western Siberia)

Abstract

Western Siberia is an interesting polygon for studying the patterns of territorial variability of zonal forest formations and their animal population. Forests covering more than 60% of the territory are undergoing significant anthropogenic transformation due to the activities of the oil-and-gas industry, large-scale deforestation and fires. All this makes it very relevant to study the spatial differentiation of ornithocomplexes, as well as natural and anthropogenic environmental factors that determine it. The data was collected during the period of 1996-2010 using the route bird census method in 64 landscape forest plots with a total length of over a thousand km, in the valleys of large tributaries of the Ob River (the Chulym, Ket, Vasyugan and Tym Rivers). The total abundance of birds, the composition of the dominant species in terms of population density, and the species richness depending on the zoning (middle and southern taiga subzones), the species composition of tree stands, the terrain, and the degree of anthropogenic transformation of the environment by forest cutting and fires of forest ornithocomplexes, are discussed.