Number and Distribution of the Narrow-Headed Vole Lasiopodomys gregalis (Pallas, 1779) (Cricetidae, Rodentia) in Western Siberia

Abstract

According to the data collected in the second half of summer for the period from 1954 to 2016 in the flat and mountainous parts of Western Siberia, the distribution and number of the narrow-headed vole in the zonal and provincial aspects were analyzed. Based on the cluster analysis of the matrix of similarity coefficients of abundance indicators obtained by averaging the initial data by years and groups of geobotanical maps units, the classification of habitats according to the favorable environmental conditions degree for the vole is made. The averaged samples are divided into five types of favorability: from optimal, where the abundance of the species is highest in the whole studied area, to extreme, where it is not encountered. In the South of the West Siberian plain narrow-headed vole prefers steppes, and in the subarctic tundras – communities of river valleys. In the Altai and Kuznetsk-Salair mountain regions it is most common in the subalpine light forests, tundras and tundra-steppe of the North-Western and SouthEastern Altai. On average, this vole prefers open habitats in Western Siberia. According to the classification and the structural graph, the dependence of the vole abundance on a number of factors and their inseparable combinations (enviromental and anthropogenic regimes) was revealed. The greatest connection with its distribution in the habitats of Western Siberia is traced for heat and water availability. On the plain, the number of this vole increases from the middle taiga, where it is found only once, to the subzone of the subarctic tundras in the North and to the forest-steppe and steppe zones in the South. In the mountains its more in the South-Eastern Altai, where a relatively high proportion of the most favorable for narrow-headed vole habitats.