干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The results of a 30-year long monitoring of the long-legged buzzard nesting in natural tree-shrub communities in a clay semi-desert of the Trans-Volga region are presented. In such communities, buzzards are shown to nest exclusively in crab-trees or 3-4-meter high common buckthorn growing in polydominant shrublands both in lake depressions and in large depressions on the plain. Since these plant species in plain depressions are subject to strong anthropogenic impact and fail to reach the required height, only polydominant shrubs are suitable for long-legged buzzard nesting and form sufficiently dense thickets in nesting areas. A tiny area of such communities cannot ensure the conservation of the species within the region. The maintenance of the buzzard and other bird species is currently due to the presence of artificial woods. Biodiversity in the Volga-Ural interfluve clay semi-desert primarily depends on the preservation of existing artificial woodlands, as well as on the conservation and restoration of endangered natural tree-shrub ecosystems.