In the period of 1993-2010 I led the Vertebrate Predation Research Group in the same research Institute of zoology, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The group consisted of 3-12 colleagues (including PhD-students and Diploma-students) and was aimed to investigate vertebrate predators, mainly carnivores, but also owls, diurnal raptors and snakes. The studies took place in Paazierre Forest (the northern part of Belarus) and Naliboki Forest (the central-western part of Belarus), i.e. semi-natural terrains with transitional mixed forest within the European Forest zone. The main research questions and problems were as follows: population ecology of vertebrate predator species, analysis of the vertebrate predator-prey community, the causes of the population decline of endangered species of vertebrate predators, e.g. the European mink Mustela lutreola, stoat Mustela erminea, polecat Mustela putorius, badger Meles meles, lynx Lynx lynx, brown bear Ursus arctos, eagle owl Bubo bubo, great grey owl Strix nebulosa. The whole variety of research methods, including telemetry was applied in the studies. Within these community-level studies telemetry were carried out on 12 species of vertebrate predators. The main result of these research activities was the monograph “Analysis of vertebrate predator-prey community. Studies within the European Forest zone in terrains with transitional mixed forest in Belarus” that was published in 2011 in the “Tesey” publisher in Minsk, Belarus (see the book link below) and the series of articles.
“Analysis of vertebrate predator-prey community. Studies within the European Forest zone in terrains with transitional mixed forest in Belarus” – Tesey, 2011
Zoology by Vadim Sidorovich 