Changes in the Avifauna of Islands in the European Sector of the Russian Arctic in the 20th Century

The changes in the faunistic composition of birds of the Barents Sea islands in the 20th and 21st centuries were analyzed using geographic-genetic classification of species. It is shown that over the last 100 years there has been an increase in the number of nesting species in all tundra subzones, and only in polar deserts the changes are insignificant. On islands and archipelagos the number of breeding species whose optimum range is located to the west, is increasing. In the south these are representatives of the European faunistic group, and in the north these are transpaleoarctic birds and birds of the arctic group. In typical tundra and southern tundra there was a decrease in the proportion of nesting arctic bird species, while their numbers remained the same, and an increase in the rate of Siberian species and transpalaearctic birds. The faunistic structure of nesting birds over the last 100–120 years has remained most stable on the high Arctic islands of the Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya archipelagos, where anthropogenic impact and climatic changes have not significantly affected the avifauna. On Kolguev and Vaigach islands, the faunistic structure of breeding birds began changing in the second half of the 20th century and continues to this day. Analyses of changes in the group of arctic birds revealed a significant increase in hypoarcts in typical tundra with a decrease in the number of species characteristic of the high Arctic (eoarcts) and a stable number of hemiarcts. Most of the introduced species are distributed very locally, their numbers are not large and, at present, they do not compete with local species and do not influence their abundance and distribution.

Tundra avifauna, biodiversity, Arctic birds, Barents Sea islands, long-term monitoring, climate change