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Detection of forest loss on Black Stork (Ciconia nigra L.) breeding sites … 79

If the distribution of the known Black Stork nests is compared with the map of forest
loss in the region, the avoidance of the most heavily logged parts of the Rivne region is
noticeable (see fig. 2). Up to 35% of the forest cover in some of 10×10 km squares in the
eastern parts of the region have been lost since the year 2000. It is these eastern parts that
have the smallest density of Black Stork nests. Moreover, all known nests in the sub-region
have been lost because of the logging (those four yellow dots in the north-eastern part of
the map).
Using the proposed approach, we have detected eight out of the eleven nests that were
cut down (~73%; this figure is exact, because those nests were controlled). Therefore, the
approach seems to be quite effective for the distant monitoring of nesting territories when
resources are limited and it is not possible to check every nest by direct visiting.

Conclusions

In Ukraine, logging is one of the main threats for the local breeding population of Black
Storks, as we have found evidence of logging on 38,3% of breeding sites in the Rivne
region in 100 m buffers around nests. On more that 14% of breeding territories (in 100 m
buffers) the forest loss was bigger than 20% of the area. Although we do not possess
appropriate statistical data yet, the method of a forest loss detection by the GIS analysis
seems to be effective for the search of territories with the violation of a protection regime
for rare birds.

Acknowledgments

The study was financially supported by the "CICONIA" fund within the project
"Protection and management of Black Stork populations and their habitats in the
transboundary area of Ukraine and Belarus".
We are grateful to all the people who participated in the data collection, especially to
Mykhailo Franchuk, Rostyslav Zhuravchak, and Vasyl Mateichyk.

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Державний природознавчий музей НАН України, м. Львів
State Museum of Natural History of NAS of Ukraine, Lviv
e-mail: yurastrus@gmail.com