Proceedings

Sustainable Planning Instruments and Biodiversity Conservation
Lek 1 (BP Lek 1) was situated on the open reach fen
Dikoe. The number of males at the lek was stable
(Figure 7). Annually 9 to 15 males were registered there.
At the distance of 900 m from the main Lek 1, a small lek
with 3 to 5 males was additionally discovered.
Monitoring of the Great Snipe on the territory of the
Berezinsky Reserve was conducted on two leks since
2001 (Figure 8). These leks were situated on floodplain
pasturable meadows of the Berezina River. Lek BR 1
was situated in the vicinity of the Brody village, and
the number of males in this lek strongly fluctuated. In
2007, Lek BR 1 moved 800 m from its previous site, and
in 2008 displaying males were not found on the former
display grounds or in nearest vicinity (1–1.5 km). Lek
BR 2 was situated in the vicinity of the Berezino village.
The number of males at the lek varied from 5 up to 18
individuals. A strong decrease in the male numbers was
registered in 2002.
Discussion
The Black Grouse
Long-term monitoring and analized archive data on
the Black Grouse on the territory of the Belovezhskaya
Puscha made it possible to estimate the Black Grouse
population dynamics and to analyze the reasons for
changes.
The greatest number of Black Grouse in the
Belovezhskaya Puscha was, probably, after the great fires
in 1812 and 1834. At that time, vast territories suitable for
this species had been formed. Thus, for example, Brinken
(1828), who visited the Puscha in 1826, mentioned the
Black Grouse as a very abundant species. But in the
middle of the 19 th century, this species was registered
only in several places (Stralborg, 1861). At the end of
the 19 th century and at the beginning of the 20 th century
the Black Grouse was a rather rare species (Auer, 1898;
Kartsov, 1903). By the end of the 19th century, burnt-out
places in the forest had been already overgrown. As a
result, the Black Grouse, an inhabitant of small-leaved
and coniferous low forests, could not find optimal
habitats among the old and high forests of the Puscha.
By that time, river channels where the Black Grouse
could dwell had also changed substantially. The analysis
of map materials (Afforestation Plan of 1860) shows
that dwelling places of Black Grouse began to change
substantially in the middle of the 19 th century. Exactly
at that time waterlogged floodplains of rivers were used
as hayfields, which caused the destruction of shrubs and
wood thickets along the river banks – native habitats of
the Black Grouse. Later on, raised bogs became the main
habitats of the Black Grouse.
For the first time, data on the number of Black
Grouse in the Belovezhskaya Puscha were provided
by S. A. Severcov in 1939–1940. During this period
he counted 400 individuals of the Black Grouse on the
70
territory of the Belovezhskaya Puscha (Severcov, 1940).
However, the author did not indicate at what time the
census was conducted and what method was used.
The more detailed study of the Black Grouse
populations was commenced by Gavrin at the end of
the 1940s. During the period from 1948 to 1952, the
Black Grouse was numerous on the territory of the
Puscha, but concentrated unevenly in small regions.
The main dwelling regions of the Black Grouse were
mainly confined to the external borders of the reserve,
with low birch forests on mires or floodplain meadows.
The Black Grouse was rare in the central woodlands of
the reserve. There, the Black Grouse was found only
on extensive clearings amongst pine forests, where
pine saplings had a significant mixture of birch and
aspen. The significant wood fellings during the period
from 1916 to 1941 in great plots, and the appearance of
mixed saplings promoted the penetration of the Black
Grouse into the heart of the forest. Black Grouse settled
in the places where clearings occupied large areas of
~100–150 ha, divided by the narrow bands of high pine
forests, and forming, as a whole, areas of 200–300 ha.
Close to the external borders of the woods of the reserve,
Black Grouse settled on isolated clearings with an area
of 30–50 ha (Gavrin, 1953). The process of reducing the
areas of biotopes suitable for the Black Grouse began in
the 1940s (Gavrin, 1956). At the end of the 1950s and
the beginning of the 1960s, clearings gradually became
unfit for the Black Grouse as the age of trees exceeded
25 years.
Since 1960, there were no Black Grouse witnessed
in the Puscha woodlands. The whole Black Grouse
population concentrated on the edges of the Puscha
(Figure 3). In the following decade, optimum lands of the
main type of Black Grouse dwelling were rarely drained
and ploughed. As a result, their area was reduced by 90%.
Naturally, the number of Black Grouse also strongly
decreased. Thus, in 1969 only five leks with several tens
of displaying males were counted (Datskevich, 1971).
Although during the last years extensive open
territories have appeared as a result of clear-cuttings,
penetrating of Black Grouse inside woodlands, as it
happened in the 1950s, was not observed. Exceptions
were the leks which appeared in 2000 on the mires
Glubokoe and Orlovo due to their overgrowth. The area
of these mires decreased by 231 ha from 1982 to 1992.
Substantial overgrowth on the edges of the fen Dikoe
created suitable conditions for Black Grouse dwelling. At
present, the most stable leks are located on the territory
of this fen.
Thereby, we and others closely tie the number of
the Black Grouse on the territory of the Belovezhskaya
Puscha to the presence of marshes and new woodless
territories. In the past, the maximum number of the Black
Grouse was noted after strong, vast wildfires. Currently,
Numbers of Black Grouse
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Black Grouse dwell on mire areas and on the peripheries
of the Puscha in insignificant numbers. It is necessary
to note that in the last decade displaying birds occupy
larger territories and display not so tightly as in 1950s.
Moreover, unsteady leks with solitary or few birds have
also appeared. In the opinion of Potapov (1990), single
display is observed on the bounds of areals or in places
with low population densities. The negative factors
that influence the number of the Black Grouse in the
Belovezhskaya Puscha are not only the transformation
of natural habitats but also increased predator pressures
and hunting within the buffer territories. It has been
established that the disappearance of two leks of the
Black Grouse was caused by mass shootings of males.
In the Berezinsky Reserve, traditional places of the
Black Grouse displays, in contrast to the Belovezhskaya
Puscha, were situated on raised peat-bogs, the area of
which totals 6,600 ha. The most stable conditions for
the Black Grouse exist in these habitats. The numbers of
birds there do not undergo significant fluctuations, such
as at Lek BR 1 (Figure 5). The sharp decline of displaying
birds in 2006 was likely due to the concomitant growing
numbers of red fox on the territory of the reserve during
the same year (Figure 9). At the same time, the dynamics
at Lek 2, located on the drained peatery squares was
likely connected with hunting (shootings in 2000). The
condition of the habitat was stable during the past 10
years, since continual mowing prevents shrub and tree
overgrowth, and thus determines the stability of the
conditions required for spring Black Grouse displays.
The dynamics at Lek BR 2 can also be connected with
movement of the birds within several leks located in the
hunting ground "Barsuki", where spring hunting is held
annually.
The lek in the protection zone of Sq. 616, 629, 643 is
also located on drained peatery squares, but unlike the
Monitoring of the Great Snipe and the Black Grouse in Specially Protected Nature Territories
n Fox BR lek 1 (575)
Figure 9. Dynamics of the Black Grouse at Lek BR1 and the numbers of the Red Fox on the territory of the Berezinsky
Reserve
360
300
240
180
120
Lek BR 1, there is no agricultural work conducted there,
and the squares are gradually overgrown by shrubbery
and trees. Hereupon, the lek constantly moves from one
place to another, and the number of males visiting this
lek is small.
The Great Snipe
In the Belovezhskaya Puscha, nesting biotopes of the
Great Snipe are typically situated in reach fens. In spite
of the drainage of vast tracts of mires, the remaining
part of the main reach fen maintains a stable enough
population of the species. The number of males at the lek
did not significantly change from year to year (Figure 7).
This was connected with a relatively stable water level
and constant presence of favorable forage biotopes. The
possible threat for the stable existence of this lek may be
shrub and tree overgrowth of the open areas of the fen
because of lack of mowing. Furthermore, some danger
comes from changing the hydrological regime as a result
of the reclamation system operating on the edge of the
mire tract.
In contrast to the Belovezhskaya Puscha, in the
Berezinsky Reserve leks were situated on floodplain
pasturable meadows of the Berezina River. The living
conditions in such biotopes change more often than in
the fens. First of all, the high water frequently floods
places of feeding and leks and birds, as a result, move
to other places. The optimal structure of vegetation and
favorable forage biotopes on floodplain meadows are
also connected with pasture duty.
The decrease in male numbers at Lek BR 2 in 2002
was connected with extremely dry conditions in the
spring and the beginning of summer and low level of
floods of the Berezina River (Figure 8). Obviously
in this year birds have been redistributed around the
favorable biotopes, and only 5 males were registered
60
0
Numbers of Fox
71