Long-term Post-fire Monitoring of the Breeding Bird Populations in the Kerzhensky State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Central Volga region, Russia)

In the summer of 2010, about a half of the Kerzhensky State Nature Biosphere Reserve territory suffered from a wildfire. During the 9 following years, monitoring of the bird populations in the breeding season was conducted there. Birds were counted by a route method in 6 main habitats differ in their fire burned types and also in unburned similar habitats. A total of 130 bird species were registered. In the first years after the wildfire impact, bird populations in the habitats affected by different wildfire types were similar according to the Sorensen-Chekanovsky’s index. This similarity increased to 2016. The similarity of the bird populations of burned sites has been decreasing last two years. The species richness changed in different directions. At first study years, the abundance of the breeding bird populations increased both in burnt and unburnt sites, while later this parameter decreased a bit and stabilised. Although interannual changes in indicators are still possible. The bird populations of the unburnt habitats, especially bogs, differ by lower values of indicators for the last five years. The influence of nature-climatic indicators of various months (average the monthly air temperature, the daily amount of precipitation) on the interannual dynamics of the breeding avifauna abundance was noted in only one case, out of 84 indicators. We distinguished the species (e.g. Sylvia communis) recognised as indicators of damaging by fire. Fringilla coelebs was dominant in all habitats studied, but from 2017, Anthus trivialis dominated in the severely burned birch-pine forests and on the raised bogs (burned and unburned). The most intense changes in bird populations were observed within the first five post-fire years.