Invasion of the Black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius L.) (Picidae, Aves) into the Dyakovsky (Saltovsky) forest on the array of sands near the Yeruslan river

Abstract

The paper considers the fact of the black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius L.) colonization of the Dyakovsky (Saltovsky) forest area, which occupies more than 18,000 hectares on the Yeruslan sands in the Saratov and Volgograd Trans-Volga regions. This forest area is located 25 km from the semi-desert of the Caspian lowland. According to our data, the black woodpecker appeared in the Dyakovsky forest in the winter of 2011–2012 after an extensive fire in the very hot summer of 2010. The mass of dead trees led to an outbreak of xylophagous development, which most likely led to the emergence of a settled population of the black woodpecker in the Dyakovsky forest. For 10 years, we have been conducting observations of the named population. Using the route method, parameters of its density in the winter period were determined, part of the nesting sites was identified, which confirms the year-round habitation and reproduction of the black woodpecker in the Dyakovsky forest. Our observations of the black woodpecker dispersal in the Trans-Volga region are consistent with the data of those authors who established the appearance of this species on the Lower Volga in the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain. In all likelihood, the black woodpecker dispersal in the Trans-Volga region is associated with both some change in the structure of habitats, with some increase in the abundance of this species in the main part of the habitat, and with other factors cited in this work. According to modern concepts, the location of habitats is determined by the “climatic space”, which is potentially suitable for the settlement of a particular species. Other factors interacting with the climate determine the actual development of the territory of this space by the species. Such facts of changes in the boundaries of the habitats of separate species as a result of climate change and factors interacting therewith are widespread in the world.