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Fecundity of Passerine Birds (Passeriformes) in the Ob Forest Tundra and Yamal Peninsula

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Abstract

The clutch size of passerine birds of 39 species in 3797 nests is considered. The dependence of the number of eggs in nests of northern passerine birds on the pattern of their distribution within the tundra zone and on the size of ranges, as well as the relationship of the trend of variation in the clutch size of species with different patterns of adaptation to the Subarctic, are discussed. Differences in clutch size between species nesting in different geographic zones and at different latitudes from the Ob forest tundra to northern Yamal are analyzed. The dynamics of clutch size during the nesting season and size of the first clutches, repeat clutches (that replaced the destroyed ones), and normal second clutches is described. The rule known for birds of temperate latitudes was verified for tundra passerine birds: “the earlier the onset of breeding, the larger the clutch size”.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to N.S. Alekseeva, Yu.A. Tyul’kin, E.A. Polents, S.V. Shutov, V.V. Tarasov, M.G. Golovatin, Yu.M. Malafeev, G.N. Bachurin, and V.A. Sokolov and students from several Russian universities who were involved in field studies in different years. We would fail to successfully carry out field studies with-out the aid and help from members of Yamal oil/gas exploratory expeditions, aviators, and the local population. Field studies were carried out according to the programs of and funded by the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, 620144, Russia

    V. N. Ryzhanovskii, V. K. Ryabitsev & A. V. Gilev

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  1. V. N. Ryzhanovskii
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  2. V. K. Ryabitsev
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  3. A. V. Gilev
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Correspondence to V. N. Ryzhanovskii or V. K. Ryabitsev.

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Russian Text © The Author(s), 2019, published in Ekologiya, 2019, No. 3, pp. 217–225.

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Ryzhanovskii, V.N., Ryabitsev, V.K. & Gilev, A.V. Fecundity of Passerine Birds (Passeriformes) in the Ob Forest Tundra and Yamal Peninsula. Russ J Ecol 50, 280–288 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413619030111

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413619030111

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