An updated biochronology of Ukrainian small mammal faunas of the past 1.8 million years based on voles (Rodentia, Arvicolidae): a review

Boreas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleksiy Krokhmal’ ◽  
Leonid Rekovets ◽  
Oleksandr Kovalchuk
Keyword(s):  
The Past ◽  





Quaternary ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Markova ◽  
Andrey Puzachenko

Small mammal remains obtained from the European localities dated to the Eemian (Mikulino) age have been analyzed for the first time at a regional scale based on the present biogeographical regionalization of Europe. The regional faunas dated to the warm interval in the first part of the Late Pleistocene display notable differences in fauna composition, species richness, and diversity indices. The classification of regional faunal assemblages revealed distinctive features of small mammal faunas in Eastern and Western Europe during the Eemian (=Mikulino, =Ipswichian) Interglacial. Faunas of the Iberian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula, and Sardinia Island appear to deviate from the other regions. In the Eemian Interglacial, the maximum species richness of small mammals (≥40 species) with a relatively high proportion of typical forest species was recorded in Western and Central Europe and in the western part of Eastern Europe. The lowest species richness (5–14 species) was typical of island faunas and of those in the north of Eastern Europe. The data obtained make it possible to reconstruct the distribution of forest biotopes and open habitats (forest-steppe and steppe) in various regions of Europe. Noteworthy is a limited area of forests in the south and in the northeastern part of Europe. In these regions, it seems likely that under conditions of relatively high temperatures characteristic of the Last Interglacial and an insufficient moisture supply there could exist open forest stands or forest-steppe landscapes, as suggested by the presence of species indicative of forest-steppe and steppe north of the forest zone. The results obtained are useful in modeling changes in the mammal faunas as well as environmental changes in entire Europe due to global climatic changes (including the global warming recorded at present).



1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (8) ◽  
pp. 1540-1547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Morris

Small mammals were livetrapped and habitat quantified in replicates of six macrohabitats in Alberta and in temporal replicates of four macrohabitats in Ontario, Canada. Similar patterns emerged in both locations. The relative abundances of small mammals depended upon macrohabitat; within macrohabitats, species differed significantly in microhabitat use. The patterns were dynamic and probably the result of habitat preference instead of species interactions. Macrohabitat differences may in part be outcomes of microhabitat selection, but are unlikely to be completely understood without superimposing colonization and extinction probabilities on habitat selection models. Field biologists must recognize both scales of habitat to interpret patterns of species distribution.



1975 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-180
Author(s):  
Wighart V. Koenigswald ◽  
Wolfgang Rähle

Abstract. Small mammals and gastropod faunas out of a collapsed cave were quantitatively and qualitatively studied. One complex belongs to the last glacial, the others to the early holocene, or precicely Preboreal and early Boreal according to C14 age dating. Early holocene small mammal faunas in southern Germany are represented by Pitymys subterraneus as well as pleistocene relict forms. The gastropod fauna contains Zebrina detrita in a typical Discus ruderatus / Nesovitrea petronella fauna.



2006 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia K. Markova


2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 696-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMILY M. RUBIDGE ◽  
WILLIAM B. MONAHAN ◽  
JUAN L. PARRA ◽  
SUSAN E. CAMERON ◽  
JUSTIN S. BRASHARES


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (31) ◽  
pp. 9656-9661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca C. Terry ◽  
Rebecca J. Rowe

Research on the ecological impacts of environmental change has primarily focused at the species level, leaving the responses of ecosystem-level properties like energy flow poorly understood. This is especially so over millennial timescales inaccessible to direct observation. Here we examine how energy flow within a Great Basin small mammal community responded to climate-driven environmental change during the past 12,800 y, and use this baseline to evaluate responses observed during the past century. Our analyses reveal marked stability in energy flow during rapid climatic warming at the terminal Pleistocene despite dramatic turnover in the distribution of mammalian body sizes and habitat-associated functional groups. Functional group turnover was strongly correlated with climate-driven changes in regional vegetation, with climate and vegetation change preceding energetic shifts in the small mammal community. In contrast, the past century has witnessed a substantial reduction in energy flow caused by an increase in energetic dominance of small-bodied species with an affinity for closed grass habitats. This suggests that modern changes in land cover caused by anthropogenic activities—particularly the spread of nonnative annual grasslands—has led to a breakdown in the compensatory dynamics of energy flow. Human activities are thus modifying the small mammal community in ways that differ from climate-driven expectations, resulting in an energetically novel ecosystem. Our study illustrates the need to integrate across ecological and temporal scales to provide robust insights for long-term conservation and management.



Oecologia ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. Hallett


1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (7) ◽  
pp. 1517-1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Morris

Within-habitat distributions of common rodent species in two temperate-zone small mammal faunas were analyzed by a series of interaction tests to evaluate the hypothesis that the distribution and abundance of these animals is determined by competitive interference for space. In the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Peromyscus maniculatus and Clethrionomys gapperi were independently distributed and there was no consistent relationship between the densities of the two species over a broad range of habitats. At Point Pelee National Park in Ontario, Peromyscus leucopus and Microtus pennsylvanicus distributions were also independent of one another, and again there was no relationship between the densities of these rodents across habitats. These field tests favour rejection of the hypothesis of competitive interference for space among temperate-zone small mammal species.



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