Biodiversität an den südlichsten Waldstreifen der Mongolei: Erste Bewertung des Artenstatus und der anthropogenen Auswirkungen

Only 7.6% of Mongolian territory covered by forest, Mongolia is country that located in between Russia and China. All types of ecosystems in Mongolia consider as important place for biodiversity, because these areas recognized as transition zone of Siberian Forest and Central Asian Desert. During past several decades, forest size in Mongolia rapidly decreased due to several crucial threats (i.e. fire, pests, cutting, as well as global warming). This phenomenon may have negative effect for biodiversity of forest and its surrounding area. Thus, we are addressing to biodiversity characteristics (richness, diversity etc.) and conflict of human and biodiversity at the southernmost pine forest strips. We have selected southernmost pine forest strips to conduct current project, because of its vulnerability to any crucial threats (as most rapid forest degradation). We are planning to conduct surveys on both plant and animal species including, pasture plants, trees, insects, herpetology, mammals and birds. For this wildlife, we will use innovative field methods for each group to collect information about distribution and density. We hypothesize that forests rich in biodiversity is more resilient to disturbance than those with low biodiversity. The rationale is that higher number of birds and rodents (both seed eaters and dispersers) have a positive impact on forest growth and regeneration. However, at our study site there are negative anthropogenic impacts both on fauna and flora. To investigate such anthropogenic impact we will collect primary information from local people and communities through questionnaires, also we will conduct on-site observation for any conflict of human and biodiversity (i.e. hunting, trapping animals and harvesting, cutting trees, as well as mining). We hope that our findings from this project will be important part of the nature conservation in Mongolia. This endeavor, to our knowledge, will be the first exploration of the relationships between biodiversity (i.e. birds and trees) and anthropogenic land use at the southernmost forest strips in Mongolia.