FACTORS AFFECTING THE SAIGA POPULATION

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of factors associated with the excessive growth of the saiga population in Western Kazakhstan. Based on long-term retrospective and operational ecological and epizootiological monitoring, the article presents some factors in the habitats of the Ural saiga population.

Based on their own research, the article analyzes the role of biotic factors associated with the impact of various pathogens that contribute to the emergence and spread of diseases both in the past and in the present. Using epizootiological, clinical, pathoanatomical, and laboratory methods, the authors identify the causes of the mass death of saigas in the West Kazakhstan region in 2010-2011. By analyzing the epizootic situation among productive and non-productive animals in the habitat and migration zone of saigas, a causal relationship has been established between the occurrence of diseases among saigas and the current situation. A number of nosological forms caused by biotic factors are illustrated in the article's figures.

The authors of the article describe the occurrence of abiotic factors in the habitat of the Ural saiga population. They also provide examples of the impact of these risk factors on other animals both in Kazakhstan and beyond its borders.

In addition to biotic and abiotic factors, the authors present the results of the impact of anthropogenic factors. These risks are caused by habitat disturbances for saiga antelopes due to changes in land use, uncontrolled growth of livestock numbers in farms and personal plots, which has led to conflicts with agricultural producers and animal owners over feed resources and water sources.