Programme Coordinator — Vladimir Shilo, Institute of Taxonomy and Ecology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences / R.A. Shilo Novosibirsk Zoo, Russia
The Siberian spruce grouse (Falcipennis falcipennis, Hartlaub, 1855) is a species endemic to Russia. The Siberian grouse is included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. The range of the species currently consists of three isolated areas. The first area is the territory from north-western regions of the Amur Oblast and southeast of Yakutia to the cost of the Sea of Okhotsk; the second one extends from taiga regions of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range to the costs of the Tatar Strait and north of the Sea of Japan; and the third part of the species range covers northern and central regions of Sakhalin Island.
The numbers of birds are low and the wild populations of the species are declining dramatically. The main limiting factors are presented by the habitat degradation caused by logging of coniferous forests, forest fires, road construction, industrial development, disturbance factors, and poaching. Sable and owls are natural enemies of the Siberian grouse.
Goals of the programme:
- developing methods of the Siberian grouse breeding under artificial conditions;
- development and optimization of the regime of year-round housing of birds in the artificial environment;
- establishing stable, genetically valuable breeding ex situ population of the Siberian spruce grouse;
- releases of the captive bred founder stock into the wild in isolated areas of dark coniferous taiga in Novosibirsk Oblast;
- study of the process of acclimatization and naturalization of Siberian spruce grouses in the course of establishing reserve populations of the species.
Programme objectives:
- to develop techniques of the Siberian grouse ex-situ management and breeding;
- to establish breeding stock of the Siberian spruce grouse for creating ex situ population of the species;
- to prepare isolated areas of dark coniferous taiga for the releases of captive bred birds;
- to carry our field studies in various Siberian regions for the identification of areas suitable for establishing reserve populations of the Siberian grouse;
- to create reserve populations of the Siberian spruce grouse and to study the possibilities of increasing the numbers of the birds by increasing the number of their populations in various territories, including habitats in the species historical range.
