Habitat use of barnacle geese at a subarctic salt marsh in the Kolokolkova Bay, Russia
Habitat use of barnacle geese at a subarctic salt marsh in the Kolokolkova Bay, Russia
复制标题
俄罗斯科洛科尔科瓦湾亚北极盐沼中藤壶雁的栖息地利用
作者：
A. J. Graaf;O. Lavrinenko;V. Elsakov;M. Eerden;J. Stahl
沿着东大西洋的迁徙航线，鹅和天鹅依赖于合适的沿海栖息地作为迁徙和繁殖的中转站。特别是对于飞行路线的俄罗斯部分，缺乏这些栖息地与食草动物使用的详细描述。我们报告了在俄罗斯佩霍拉三角洲Kolokolkova湾附近的toseda村附近最近建立的一个繁殖地点的盐沼泽特征和栖地利用。对植物群落进行了分类，测定了植被和土壤性质。通过计数粪便来评估鹅的访问量。从海湾到沙丘有一个盐度下降的梯度，同时植物群落从盐沼逐渐向淡水沼泽、冻土带和沙丘转移。低沼泽和中沼泽的盐碱地群落比高沼泽和非盐碱地群落更多。两个低沼泽社区是首选。分蘖密度高，冠层高度低，以草料质量高的苔草（Carex subspathacea）为优势种。这些特征是由鹅选择的，但可能通过放牧来保持。我们遗址的盐沼与俄罗斯海岸和加拿大类似纬度的其他沼泽有相似之处。我们讨论了放牧促进和过度放牧导致的生境退化等过程是否发生在我们的场地上。
Along the east Atlantic migratory flyway, goose and swan species rely on the availability of suitable coastal habitats as staging sites during migration and for breeding. Especially for the Russian part of the flyway, detailed descriptions of these habitats in relation to use by herbivores are lacking. We report on salt-marsh characteristics and habitat use by barnacle geese in a recently established breeding site, near the village Tobseda at Kolokolkova Bay in the Pechora Delta, Russia. A classification of plant communities was made and both vegetation and soil properties were measured. Goose visitation was assessed by counting droppings. From the bay towards the dunes there was a gradient of decreasing salinity, along with a gradual shift in plant communities from salt marshes to freshwater bogs, tundra and dunes. Barnacle geese visited salt-marsh communities of the low and middle marsh more than the high marsh and non-saline communities. Two low marsh communities were preferred. Both had high tiller densities and low canopy heights and were dominated by Carex subspathacea, a species with high forage quality. Those characteristics are selected by geese, but might be maintained through grazing. The salt marsh at our site bears similarities to other marshes at similar latitudes along the Russian coast and in Canada. We discuss whether processes like grazing facilitation and habitat degeneration through overgrazing occur on our site.