Structural organization and ecology of birds of the High-Mountinous Dagestan

Abstract

This paper analyzes the data of bird counts conducted in 1998–2021 in the province High-Mountainous Dagestan. For the first time, information was obtained on the modern average abundance of birds, their conservation status, residence status, species and faunistic composition. Of the 117 bird species recorded in the High-Mountain province of Dagestan, European, widespread, Mediterranean and Tibetan representatives of faunal complexes dominate in its humid northwestern and central parts, which is due to the prevalence of forests and shrubby subalpine meadows with large-scale rocky outcrops. In the southeastern, more aridized and treeless part of the highlands, where subalpine and alpine meadows with local rock inclusions dominate, representatives of the widespread, Mediterranean and Mongolian types of fauna are already taking the leading positions. Studies have shown that in mountains with a blurred altitudinal-belt gradient associated with the inversion of vegetation belts, the avifauna is subdivided not according to altitudinal differences, but according to habitats with corresponding ecological bird communities. Using the original ecological classification, the ecological structure of the avifauna of the study area was determined, including 11 ornithocomplexes differentiated according to the same type of habitats with an indication of their total abundance. Each habitat with the corresponding ornithocomplex was characterized according to ecological specifics, indicating with the indication of the first 5 species leading in terms of abundance. It has been established, that the specific appearance of the avifauna of the High-Mountinous Dagestan is given not only by the resident communities of typically mountain birds, but also by the adapted populations of migratory birds of the plains nesting in the highlands. The empirical data obtained make it possible to use them for spatial indication of bird communities for research purposes, for monitoring the state of the avifauna and its protection, as well as for organizing the rational use of hunting and commercial resources.