The dissertation is devoted to the study of the avifauna of wastewater treatment facilities in Kharkiv Region.
The author was the first to study the aviafauna of wastewater treatment facilities (WTFs) in eastern Ukraine, where she made an inventory of the ornithological complexes of the WTFs of Kharkiv Region and provided their taxonomic, faunal and ecological analysis.
The aviafauna on the territory of WTFs of Kharkiv Region comprises 159 species from 17 orders and 44 families, which is 24 species more than on similar territories of Chernihiv WTFs. The highest species diversity was found in urban Bezliudivka and Dykanivka WTFs (BWTF and DWTF), which can be explained by favourable feeding and habitat conditions.
Representatives of the order Passeriformes dominated in all the WTF territories (from 43.1%; n=153 to 69.2%; n=65), with Charadriiformes (14.6%; n=153 in the BWTF) and Anseriformes (12.6%; n=153 in the BWTF) subdominating. The share of other orders is smaller: Piciformes (7.1%; n=35 in the Krasnokutsk WTF (KrWTF)), Accipitriformes (6.2%; n=91 in the DWTF), Falconiformes (6.6% in the BWTF n=153 and 6.2%; n=91 in the DWTF). The proportion of any other order was smaller than 5%. The following families prevailed in terms of species composition: Anatidae - 19 species (12.1%), Scolopacidae - 15 (9.6%), Accipitridae - 10 (6.4%), Laridae - 8 (5.1%), Picidae - 6 (3.8%). Other families were represented by less than five species (Appendix Table).
Breeding species dominated the majority of WTFs, ranging from 50.3% (B WTF) to 65.7% (Kr WTF), 67.9% (Lozivska WTF (LWTF)) and 75.0% (Kupiansk WTF (KWTF)). Migratory species prevailed in the DWTF, constituting 63.7%. Across all WTFs of Kharkiv Region, 80 (53.3% n=159) breeding bird species were recorded, which is more than in the territory of the Chernihiv WTFs, where 71 species were breeding (Fedun, et al., 2015). All of this indicates the exceptional role of the WTF areas for birds.
Overall, limnophiles dominated among ecological communities across all the WTFs: 45.9 % (n=159) of the total recorded species and 40.3 % of the breeding species; dendrophiles were subdominant: 35.7 % and 29.2 %, respectively. Campophiles and sclerophiles were significantly less represented among both the total recorded bird species and the breeding species.
The study identified eleven landscape genetic faunal complexes. The largest share of all recorded bird species belongs to the following groups: limnophilous (18.5%, n=159), boreal (15.9%), and tropical (13.4%). Subdominant groups include ancient nemoral and forest-steppe, each representing 12.1%. Shares of all other groups comprise less than 10 %. Among the breeding birds at various WTFs in Kharkiv Region, the largest shares of species belong to the tropical (16.9%, n=80), limnophilous (13.0%), and forest-steppe (13.0%) groups. Subdominant groups include nemoral, ancient nemoral, forest-steppe, desert-mountain, and boreal, each comprising 10.1% of the faunal groups. Thus, WTFs are significant for the settlement of both northern and southern bird species. Among the breeding species, a predominance of both typical native species and tropical ones was observed.
The bird species composition at the WTFs varied across all seasons, ranging from 44 species in winter to 115 species in summer, due to the addition of migratory breeding species. Six species are common to all seasons and are the most abundant: the mallard, the hooded crow, the Eurasian tree sparrow, the Caspian gull, the Eurasian magpie, and the common starling. In each season, different bird species contribute to the formation of the bird complex core. The first two species have the highest abundance in the winter season, but with the return of the black-headed gull to nesting sites, crows move to the peripheral areas of the WTFs. The black-headed gull, along with other bird species, forms the nesting bird complex of the WTFs, creating the core of the colony. The first migratory birds, including the northern lapwing and the white wagtail, were observed from the first to the second decade of March. Winter migrants such as the waxwing, siskin, and fieldfare stay until mid-April. Large flocks of starlings (256-1500 individuals) were observed from the third decade of May.
The timing of bird wintering at the WTFs is quite variable and depends on the year's weather conditions. Usually, bird wintering commences throughout December. The end of the wintering period also depends on meteorological conditions, typically occurring from the third decade of February to the first half of March. Out of the 77 species identified, 41 (53.3%) wintered regularly. All other species were scarce and rarely visiting or migratory birds. On the territory of the Chernihiv municipal WTF, 51 species were recorded in winter (Fedun et al., 2023).
