Rodent communities in the Sub-polar Urals mountains

• Autores: K.I. Berdyugin, V. N. Bolshakov
• Localización: Pirineos, ISSN 0373-2568, Nº 158-159, 2004, págs. 127-148
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Distribution of the rodent communities in the Sub-polar Urals is analysed. This part of the range, between 640 and 660N, includes the highest peaks, is very scarcely settled and has been rarely studied. However, the area is interesting for biogeography, being a border zone separating European and Siberian lowland faunas. Comparison of results with those from expeditions undertaken in 1927 and in 1972, allows to evaluate changing trends in the local rodent communities, and to relate these trends to changes in the environmental conditions. The results help to emphasize the barrier role played by Sub-polar Urals for the species of rodents inhabiting both sides of the range, and also show the shifting of southern rodent forms northwards, or the moving upwards of other lowland species. This could be seen as an additional evidence of current climate warming trends.