Assessment of the Distribution of Rare Bird Species in Regional Arid Biomes of Russia as the Basis for Their Protection

Abstract

The biodiversity of rare, endangered, and recovering bird species has been assessed for the arid and semiarid regional biomes of Russia (the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Krasnaya kniga..., 2001; IUCN, 2018)). It is shown that 104 protected species of the 118 species that live in the entire territory of Russia inhabit arid and semiarid territories. The paper identifies a group of rare species that are not or are poorly provided with protection at the level of reserves within the arid and semiarid regional biomes of Russia. The results of the study can be used to assess the regional biodiversity of rare and endangered bird species and to develop effective measures to increase the level of their protection.