Ornithogeographical districts of the steppe Don region: present statics and dynamics of the territorial distribution of birds. - V.P. Belik. - Berkut. 5 (2). 1996. P. 111-124.
According to the present territorial distribution of breeding bird species Rostov region is divided in 11 zoogeographical areas. They are grouped in districts and provinces after coefficients of likeness. Forest-steppe Don province and steppe Forecaucasus province includes 4 areas each. Border between them goes on the right bank of the Lower Don valley. Semi-desert Ergeny province is situated in the extreme south-east of Rostov region. The Lower Don valley is obviously the boundary between European and Sahara-Gobian subregions of the Palearctic now. Avifauna of the Don region suffered very strong changes in last decades. They are connected mainly with the anthropogenic transformation of landscapes and climate changes. Immigration of many dendrophile species has transformed considerably the faunistic aspect of the Don region and it is impossible to call already the Don province as steppe. Only the Manych valley, the Sea of Azov coasts and partly the Tsimlansky sandy tract did not suffer such pronounced changes. Their fauna is appreciably isolated from neighbouring areas. Nevertheless the ornithogeographical division of the Don region remains on the whole very similar with the landscape division. [Russian].
Key words: zoogeography, Rostov region, fauna, distribution, zoogeographical division.