Ways of Recognizing the High Status of the Territory for the Biodiversity Conservation (on the Example of the Ichalkovsky Reserve in the Nizhny Novgorod Region)

Abstract

The purpose of our study is to consider the possibilities of using different approaches to recognize the significance of the territory for the biodiversity conservation. The Ichalkovsky nature reserve (zakaznik) with an area of 1,442 hectares in the Nizhny Novgorod region was selected for analysis as a botanical and geological object unique for the Russian Plain. The criterion of various rare wildlife species records was used as a leading approach. Analysis of published materials and field research in 2020 allowed us to identify in the studied territory the habitat of 88 wildlife species listed in the Red Data Books of Russia and the Nizhny Novgorod Region. They are very different concerning their taxonomy and biology. This criterion use shows the extremely high conservation value of the Ichalkovsky reserve. The territory under consideration is characterized by high biological diversity and a high degree of biota remained, as well as its weak human disturbance. It is shown that, in accordance with the approaches of international nature conservation programs, the Ichalkovsky reserve has the status of a territory of special nature conservation significance within the Emerald Network of Russia, as well as an Important Bird Area. This territory is the core of the environmental framework of European Russia and meets the criteria for identifying several categories of high conservation value forests. The proposed ways have shown high efficiency. Ichalkovsky reserve is very important to conserve the biodiversity, including at the international level. This natural area should have legal protection adequate to its nature conservation value. Such protection can be provided by the status of a cluster of a national park.

Compilation of regional, national and pan-European approaches to biodiversity conservation in the protected area projecting on the example of the National Park “Nizhegorodskoe Zavolzhye” (Nizhny Novgorod Region, Russia)

“…Sites of the National Park were mainly projected basing on the already existing regional protected areas (nature reserves and natural monuments). Specialists included in the number of designers of the national park, in different years (since the 1980s) took part in the creation of protected areas, as well as in monitoring their condition, identifying and monitoring the number of rare and endangered wildlife species [1][2] and analyzing the landscape structure [3][4]. A lot of data about the natural features of the projected area has been accumulated for the now.…”

Landscape structure of the territory of the nature monument of regional significance “YOlkinskie Rocks” (Sverdlovsk region, Russia)

“…With proper organization, protected areas support the conservation of biological diversity and ecosystems [1][2]. Protected areas have serious social significance, which is expressed in maintaining the natural and ecological framework of the territory [3], which provides the possibility of the existence of a human living environment.…”

Morphometric features and genesis of the lake basins of Lake Bol’shoe Svyatoe Dedovskoe and Lake Maloe Svyatoe Dedovskoe (Volga Upland, Russia)

“…The nature of the relief of the lake basin determines the physico-chemical properties of lake waters, their dynamics, composition, abundance and spatial distribution of hydrobionts, which is why the results of researches of morphometric characteristics of lakes are of scientific interest to limnologists [1], hydrologists [2], biologists [3], ecologists [4][5], hydrobiologists [6]. The origin and morphology of the lake basin are closely related and largely determine the hydrological and geomorphological processes, occurring both in the lake and in the adjacent territories, affect the organic world and, as the lake evolves, determine the course and speed of succession.…”