Editing Commander Islands (section)

== Natural history ==
[[File:Chitrow - Seekuh, Seebaer und Seeloewe (Ausschnitt aus einer Karte).jpg|thumb|right|Detail from an early map by [[Great Northern Expedition|Bering expedition]] member S. Khitrov of eastern Kamchatka, including the Commander Islands, with drawings of [[Steller's sea cow]], the [[northern fur seal]] and the [[Steller sea lion]].]]

[[File:О. Медный 456547.jpg|thumb|Medny Island]]
There is no true forest on the Commander Islands. The vegetation is dominated by [[lichen]]s, [[moss]]es and different associations of marshy plants with low grass and dwarf trees. Very tall [[umbellifer]]s are also common.

===Mammals===
Due to the high productivity of the Bering Sea shelf and the Pacific slope and their remoteness from human influence, the Commander Islands are marked by a great abundance of marine animal life and a relative paucity of terrestrial organisms.<ref name=BN>{{cite journal |last=Barabash-Nikiforov |first=I. |title=Mammals of the Commander Islands and the Surrounding Sea |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=423–429 |date=November 1938 |doi=10.2307/1374226 |jstor=1374226}}</ref> Notably, significant numbers of [[northern fur seal]]s (some 200,000 individuals) and [[Steller sea lion]]s (approximately 5,000 individuals) summer there, both on reproductive rookeries and non-reproductive haul-outs. [[Sea otter]]s, [[common seal]]s and [[spotted seal|larga seals]] are likewise abundant. Indeed, the [[sea otter]] population is stable and possibly increasing, even as their population is falling precipitously in the rest of the Aleutian islands.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Doroff |first=A. |author2=J.A. Estes |author3=M.T. Tinker |title=Sea otter population declines in the Aleutian archipelago |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=55–64 |date=February 2003 |doi=10.1644/1545-1542(2003)084<0055:SOPDIT>2.0.CO;2 |issn=1545-1542 |display-authors=etal |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The neighboring waters provide important feeding, wintering and migrating habitat for many whale species, many of which are threatened or endangered. Among these are: [[sperm whale]]s, [[orca]]s, several species of [[Minke whale]]s,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mpatlas.org/mpa/sites/5319/ |title=MPAtlas » Commander Islands |website=www.mpatlas.org |access-date=2019-12-03}}</ref> [[beaked whale]]s, and [[porpoise]]s, [[humpback whale|humpbacks]] and endangered species such as the [[North Pacific right whale]]s<ref name="BN" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://komandorsky.ru/eubalaena-japonica-lacepede.html |title=Командорский - Японский гладкий кит Eubalaena japonica Lacepede, 1818 |trans-title=Komandorsky - Japanese right whale Eubalaena japonica Lacepede, 1818 |website=komandorsky.ru |access-date=18 September 2018}}</ref> and [[fin whale]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://komandorsky.ru/balaenoptera-physalus.html |title=Командорский - Финвал (сельдяной кит) Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758) |trans-title=Commander - Fin whale (herring whale) Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758) |website=komandorsky.ru |access-date=18 September 2018}}</ref>

Bering Island was the only known habitat of [[Steller's sea cow]]s, an immense (over {{convert|4000|kg|abbr=on|disp=or}}) [[sirenian]] related to the [[dugong]]. The sea cow was hunted to [[extinction]] within 27 years of its discovery in 1741.<ref name="Anderson1995">{{cite journal |last=Anderson |first=P. |year=1995 |title=Competition, predation, and the evolution and extinction of Steller's sea cow, ''Hydrodamalis gigas'' |journal=Marine Mammal Science |volume=11 |pages=391–394 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.1995.tb00294.x |issue=3|bibcode=1995MMamS..11..391A }}</ref> 

The much less diverse terrestrial fauna includes two distinct, endemic subspecies of [[Arctic fox]], (''Alopex lagopus semenovi'' and ''A. l. beringensis''). Though relatively healthy now, these populations had been significantly depleted in the past due to the fur trade. Most other terrestrial species, including wild [[reindeer]], [[American mink]] and [[rat]]s, have all been introduced to the islands by man.<ref name=BN/>

===Birds===
Over a million seabirds gather to nest on numerous large colonies along almost all the coastal cliffs. The most common are [[northern fulmar]]; [[Common guillemot|common]], [[Brunnich's guillemot|brunnich's]] and [[pigeon guillemot]]s; [[Horned puffin|horned]] and [[tufted puffin]]s; [[cormorants]]; [[gulls]]; and [[kittiwakes]] including the extremely local [[red-legged kittiwake]] which nests in only a few other colonies in the world. [[Waterfowl]] and [[sandpiper]]s are also abundant along the pre-lake depressions and river valleys of Bering Island, though largely absent from Medny Island. Migratory birds of note with critical nesting or feeding habitat on the islands include such species as [[Steller's eider]], [[Pacific golden plover]] and [[Aleutian tern]]. Raptors of note include the rare [[Steller's sea eagle]] and [[gyrfalcon]]. Other bird types include auks such as the [[Ancient murrelet]] and game birds such as the [[Rock ptarmigan]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.greenpeace.org/russia/en/campaigns/world-natural-heritage/commander-islands/ |title=Commander Islands |website=Greenpeace Russia |language=en-RU |access-date=2019-12-03}}</ref> In total, over 180 bird species have been registered on the Commander Islands.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Johansen |first=H. |title=Revised List of the Birds of the Commander Islands |journal=The Auk |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=44–56 |date=January 1961 |doi=10.2307/4082233 |jstor=4082233|doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[spectacled cormorant]], a large essentially flightless bird in the cormorant family, was driven to extinction by around 1850.<ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |author-link=BirdLife International |year= 2023 |title=''Urile perspicillatus'' |page= e.T22696750A226827998 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T22696750A226827998.en|access-date=7 January 2024}}</ref> The islands have been recognised as an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]] because they support populations of various [[threatened]] bird species, including many [[waterbird]]s and [[seabird]]s.<ref name=bli> {{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/commander-islands-iba-russia-(asian) |title=Commander Islands |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021 |website=BirdLife Data Zone |publisher=BirdLife International |access-date=7 February 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Бухта Буяна 1.JPG|thumb|Bering Island]]
The fish fauna in the mountainous, fast running streams is composed primarily of migratory [[salmonids]], including [[Arctic char]], [[Dolly Varden trout|Dolly Varden]], [[westslope cutthroat trout|black spotted trout]], [[Chinook salmon|chinook]], [[sockeye salmon|sockeye]], [[coho]] and [[pink salmon]].

There are no [[amphibians]] or [[reptiles]] on the Commander Islands.<ref name=BN/>