TY - JOUR

T1 - Baltic Population of the Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis (Bechstein 1803)) in the Boreal Zone of Northwestern Russia

AU - Коузов, Сергей Александрович

AU - Зайнагутдинова, Эльмира Мидхатовна

AU - Кравчук, Анна Валентиновна

PY - 2023/12/1

Y1 - 2023/12/1

N2 - Abstract: The Barnacle Goose experienced a precipitous depression in numbers in the middle of the last century. The improvement of measures to protect the species in Western European wintering grounds and climate warming in the Arctic caused an increase in the numbers of the species and a southward expansion of the range from the Arctic islands to the mainland coastal tundra over the last decades of the 20th century. Isolated breeding centers of the Barnacle Goose formed in places of migration stopovers on the coasts of the Baltic Sea and in wintering areas on the coasts of the North Sea. Since the last decade of the past century, the species has begun to settle in the boreal zone of Northwestern Russia. Based on original data from the authors and an analysis of the pertinent literature, the process of Barnacle Goose dispersal in Leningrad oblast, the Republic of Karelia, and Murmansk oblast and the change in its status from a rare visitor to a mass migrant and common, but locally spread, breeding species are examined in detail. The main features of the species’ phenology, landscape and habitat distribution, and breeding biology are considered. The exponential growth of the abundance of this species occurring synchronously both in the Subarctic and in new nesting sites in the boreal and temperate climatic zones of Europe suggests that an active microevolutionary process is taking place against the background of the impact of climate change and improved protection of the species, thus making it possible to consider the Barnacle Goose as an interesting model species for various populational studies.

AB - Abstract: The Barnacle Goose experienced a precipitous depression in numbers in the middle of the last century. The improvement of measures to protect the species in Western European wintering grounds and climate warming in the Arctic caused an increase in the numbers of the species and a southward expansion of the range from the Arctic islands to the mainland coastal tundra over the last decades of the 20th century. Isolated breeding centers of the Barnacle Goose formed in places of migration stopovers on the coasts of the Baltic Sea and in wintering areas on the coasts of the North Sea. Since the last decade of the past century, the species has begun to settle in the boreal zone of Northwestern Russia. Based on original data from the authors and an analysis of the pertinent literature, the process of Barnacle Goose dispersal in Leningrad oblast, the Republic of Karelia, and Murmansk oblast and the change in its status from a rare visitor to a mass migrant and common, but locally spread, breeding species are examined in detail. The main features of the species’ phenology, landscape and habitat distribution, and breeding biology are considered. The exponential growth of the abundance of this species occurring synchronously both in the Subarctic and in new nesting sites in the boreal and temperate climatic zones of Europe suggests that an active microevolutionary process is taking place against the background of the impact of climate change and improved protection of the species, thus making it possible to consider the Barnacle Goose as an interesting model species for various populational studies.

KW - Gulf of Finland

KW - Lake Ladoga

KW - breeding biology

KW - dispersal

KW - habitat distribution

KW - landscape preference

KW - spatial distribution

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/48e3aeb3-253c-34e3-9431-0540de886f18/

U2 - 10.1134/s1062359023080137

DO - 10.1134/s1062359023080137

M3 - Article

VL - 50

SP - 1920

EP - 1940

JO - Biology Bulletin

JF - Biology Bulletin

SN - 1062-3590

IS - 8

ER -