Authors:
A. V. ARGUNOV,
candidate of biological sciences, research officer,
V. V. STEPANOVA,
candidate of biological sciences, senior research associate,
I. M. OKHLOPKOV,
candidate of biological sciences, acting director,
Institute for Biological problems of Cryolithozone of SB of rAS (41 Lenina Ave., 677007, Yakutsk)
Abstract. Based on the data from 22 857 cards on winter route accounting (faceshield) and license production of wild ungulates for 2011–2014, we analyzed the number and use of the resources of the exploited ungulate populations in Yakutia. The research shows their abundance dynamics in the space-time dimension in the 50-year period. Discussion of errors in methods of accounting wild animals that tended to distort their numbers. Currently, the population of most wild ungulates has stabilized since their decline in the 1990s, there is a positive tendency to growth of their populations. In the period of 2010–2016 the population of musk deer has increased from 8.9 thousand to 44 thousands species, Siberian roe deer – from 9.8 to 28.8 thousands, the wild forest reindeer population has dropped to 63.5 thousands, of red deer increased from 7.2 to 13.0 million, the elk population is up to 60.0–83.0 thousands, bighorn sheep – to 60 thousands individuals. License production of ungulates in the region is minimal and does not exceed the permissible norms of their shooting, there is an underutilization of the allocated shooting limits. However, despite the apparent sustainability of certain species of ungulates in the reporting documents, animals are in fact hunted in large numbers without a license. Such species include the Siberian roe deer and elk, in the area which affects the most inhabited areas of the region, and, on the contrary, the resources of species living in the remote areas such as musk deer, deer, wild reindeer and snow sheep experience little influence from hunters.
Keywords: habitat, wild ungulates, population size, population density, shooting.
