The Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarinain the North Caucasus, Russian Federation:taxonomic status, genetic diversity, breedingdensity and nest site characteristics

摘要

We studied the Lesser Spotted Eagle population in a 55 km~2 study area near Kislovodsk, NorthCaucasus, in July 2007. Birds were observed on ten breeding territories while nests, distributedunevenly in the landscape in forested river valleys, were found and described for eight territories.Productivity in 2007 was 0.71 nestlings per occupied nest. The results of our mitochondrial DNAanalysis indicate that the Caucasus region is inhabited by the same subspecies as occurs elsewherein Europe. However, the genetic diversity within the Caucasian population was much higher thanthat of more northern European populations, suggesting that the Caucasian population is relativelyold and not been subject to historical or recent 'bottlenecks'.