History of ornithological research in the lake Baikal basin

The history of ornithological research in the Lake Baikal Basin, including the Russian and Mongolian parts has not been covered enough. There is a wealth of published ornithological data related to different parts of this region. Notably the bird studies in the Russian part cover a period of more than 300 years. From the middle of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century, avian research was carried out mainly by travelers and surveyors who were on expeditions with multiple purposes and covered relatively small areas. Until the middle of the 20th century faunistic studies predominated, and from the second half of the century specific studies on the ecology of birds in the Russian part of the Lake Baikal Basin started. Irkutsk ornithologists mainly study the Lake Baikal and also areas to the west, the Buryat ornithologists work in Transbaikal region. Ornithological research on the territory of Mongolia started around 150 years ago with the first expedition of the Russian explorer and geographer Nikolay Mikhailovich Przhevalsky. In the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, Russian scientists studied the birds of Mongolia. After an interruption, starting from the second half of the 20th century, ornithological research activities were resumed with more focused studies. Most of the bird studies were carried out by complex biological expeditions that were jointly organized under bi-lateral agreements between the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia and the USSR Academy of Sciences, and also between the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia and the Academy of Sciences of Germany. During this period, joint regional collaborative studies of birds in the region were undertaken by researchers of National University of Mongolia and Irkutsk State University, and also National University of Mongolia and Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany. In the last two decades, focused ornithological research activities in the Russian part have declined to certain extent. On the contrary, the bird researches have markedly increased on the territory of Mongolia. According to preliminary estimates four thousand scientific papers about birds in the Lake Baikal Basin have been published from the first ornithological study to date. Today, there is a strong need to increase ornithological activities in this region with more focused objectives related to the long term changes in avifauna and the impacts of extensive forest fires, land cover, land use, and climate changes on the diversity and distribution of birds. The Lake Baikal itself has undergone dramatic warming and ecosystem changes that could disrupt its biological systems. Increased frequency of Siberian forest fires and timber logging have threatened the distribution of birds; however, its long and short term impact have not properly documented. Therefore, a cooperation of regional scientists and foreign specialists in the research of birds of the Lake Baikal Basin is very important.