Dobryvoda,
I. 2022. Population dynamics and biotopic distribution
of the common hamster in Medobory (Podillia). Theriologia
Ukrainica, 24: 142–150. [In Ukrainian,
with English summary]
title |
Population
dynamics and biotopic distribution of the common
hamster in Medobory (Podillia)
|
author(s) |
Ivan Dobryvoda (orcid: 0000-0002-2827-7234) |
affiliation |
Medobory Natural Reserve
(Hrymailiv, Ukraine)
|
bibliography |
Theriologia Ukrainica.
2022. Vol. 24: 142–150. |
DOI |
http://doi.org/10.15407/TU2413 |
|
|
language |
Ukrainian, with English summary,
titles of tables, captures to figs |
abstract |
The results
of the surveys and data on biotopic distribution
of common hamster burrows in the vicinity of the
Medobory Nature Reserve were collected and summarised.
In order to study the abundance and density of hamsters,
two monitoring sites were established. The first
is in the fields between the village of Butsyky
and the town of Hrymailiv, and the second is on
a farming field in the town of Hrymailiv, where
since 2013 the number of common hamster burrows
have been recorded in the autumn period of the year.
Homestead plots and small-scale plantations of agricultural
crops were surveyed using the transect method by
one or two investigators. During nine years of research,
170 living burrows were found on the first site,
which covers an area of about 10 hectares, and only
7 on the second site, which is located on a farm
field. The majority of living burrows were recorded
on crops of 3 to 4-year-old alfalfa. An increase
in the number of burrows was observed in 2015 and
2019. Additional research was carried out in separate
gardens with alfalfa in the vicinity of the town
of Hrymailiv, the villages of Lezhanivka, Lychkivtsi,
Zelene, and Paivka, and in farm fields, where 52
living burrows were recorded. Separate data were
obtained from observation cards of reserve workers
and by surveying the local population. The largest
colony was found in the village of Lychkivtsi in
2021 in a garden with a four-year-old alfalfa plantation
of 0.3 ha, and there were 16 settlements there (3
to 5 burrows per settlements). During nine years
of observation, live animals were found only twice:
in the village of Butsyky in 2013 (two individuals
in a field in fodder beet crops) and near Lezhanivka
in 2019 (one individual in a disced rapeseed field,
during stork foraging). Usually, they are recorded
dead: killed by predators or killed by motor vehicle
collisions. Taking into account the distribution
of burrows by biotopes, it is worth noting that
the decline in the number of hamsters is the result
of a decrease in agricultural land area suitable
for their existence. The exception is the years
2019–2020, when their number began to increase rapidly,
the cause of which could be the mass death of foxes
that occurred as a result of poisoning by mouse-like
rodents in farm fields in 2018, which served as
their food base. As for the animals of the dark
morph, their share in the population is no more
than 10%, and they often become victims too, since
their colouration is clearly visible in their living
environs. |
keywords |
hamster, Cricetus
cricetus, population dynamics, Podillia, Ukraine. |
|
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