«NEWS FOR THE SCIENTIFIC DEPARTMENTS OF NATURE RESERVES»

ECOSYSTEM MONITORING IN KOPETDAG STATE ZAPOVEDNIK (TURKMENISTAN)

All-year-round monitoring of population changes of some biodiversity elements in Central and Eastern Kopetdag — the region under responsibility of Kopetdag Zapovednik — allows to identify the state of ecosystems within a short period of time and determine mechanisms to conserve biodiversity at the local level. The zapovednik is used as a model to survey all changes in the ecological food chain: leopard — Bezoar goats — carrion birds.

Long-term monitoring (since 1983 till 2001) helped us to discover close links between populations and the nature of their relationship in some zapovednik stationary sites (“Kurukhaudan”, “Kechun”, “Babazo”, “Firyuza”, and “Messinev”) and an adjacent area (“Dushakerekdag”). Population changes are an indicator of environmental changes.

The analysis of bird annual survey data collected during this period of time revealed changes in bird populations; first of all this refers to birds of carrion who act as indicators of environmental situation. The decline of carrion bird populations is directly linked with the decline of big mammal populations (Turkmen argali and Bezoar goat) in the Central Kopetdag who serve as the main source of food for the birds. The leopard population also depends on these ungulate (although here we must also take into account the poaching factor). Therefore, the prey bird population is an impartial indicator of the environmental situation.

Thus, the carrion bird population (black vulture, white-headed vulture, Bearded vulture, Egyptian vulture) by the end of nineteen-nineties was 48 nesting couples (Efimenko, 1992). Today, this number have decreased almost 4 times and amounts to 12—14 couples. In Mirzadag area, the birds of prey do not nest any longer. There are no white-headed vulture nests in Kurukhaudan, no Bearded vulture and white-headed vulture in Kechun, no Bearded vulture and black vulture in Dushakerekdag.

The main reason of the necrophage bird population decline in the Central Kopetdag is the rapid decline of the mountain ungulate population. Twenty — thirty years ago it was mainly Front-Asian leopard (77.4 per cent for the mountain ram and 85.3 per cent for the bearded goat) who determined the structure and density of the ungulate herd – while poachers killed no more than 7 per cent of the animals. Today the situation is just opposite: by the end of 2000, poaching became the key factor affecting the population, which immediately affected negatively the population of all the wild animals constituting the food chain.

The population of Turkmen mountain ram varies each year, and now it continues to vary. During the period when we were coming across the animals most frequently (1983—1990), we registered 136 animals during 5 meetings in Kechun area, the maximal number of animals in one herd was 61. In Dushakerekdag, at 11 meetings we registered 157 animals, the maximal number in one herd was 52. Similar correlation was recorded in Mirzadag and Kurukhaudan areas as well.

On the contrary, during decline periods of the mountain ram population, the indicators were as follows: in Kechun stationary we registered 25 animals at 4 meetings, the maximal number of animals in one herd was 9; at 9 meetings in Dushakerekdag, 88 specimen were registered with the maximal number of animals in one herd being 26.

Bearded goat population demonstrated very similar dynamics in these areas.

Thus, for the last ten years, since 1990 till 2000, not only the number of meetings with the mountain ungulate had decreased drastically, but also the number of animals per herd and their population in general. This could not but affect negatively the distribution, number and state of necrophage bird populations that in our case are indicatory species for anthropogenic pressure on ecosystems.

Efimenko N. N. The biology of nesting of birds of prey in the Central Kopetdag // Ornithological research in zapovedniks. Moscow, 1992. [Problems of zapovedniks: Collection of scientific works].

N. N. Efimenko,
Kopetdag State Zapovednik