The evaluation of biodiversity of mammals in the Baikalian region of Siberia [Évaluation de la biodiversité des mammifères dans la région du lac Baïkal en Sibérie].

Résumé

Lake Baikal and its watershed were recently included on the World Heritage List. The Baikalian Region situating in the centre of Eurasia is a part of Eastern Siberia. Within the limits of the present project the main attention has been drawn to surveying the fauna of the Republic of Buryatia (Western Transbaikalia), a key sub-region of Transbaikalia, to provide hard information about mammalian resources thereof. To date of our study, knowledge of the status and distribution of many of these species in Buryatia have been very scanty. The species of both East-Siberian and Central-Asian mammalian faunas (= zoogeographical complexes) are corroborated to inhabit this territory. In the framework of the present project, we have completed a taxonomic revision of the mammalian fauna of Buryatia, including surveying a status of key mammal species and refining their distribution. Additional data on the biology and ecology of key species have also been collected. As results of the performed study, a first and most complete annotated checklist of the mammalian fauna of the Republic of Buryatia was published. According to the up-today data, the mammalian fauna of Buryatia numbers 86 species, at least 25 of them are at risk and in need of devising workable conservation strategies.