Zhigarev I.V.,  Rumyantsev V.Yu. RODENTS OF THE FOREST-STEPPE PART OF EUROPEAN RUSSIA // Arid Ecosystems. 2025. Vol. 31. № 2 (103). P. 142-153. | PDF

Forest-steppe is an ecotone, which consists of forest and steppe landscapes. In European Russia, there are 3 forest-steppe biomes: Dneprovsko-Privolzhsky (only its forest-steppe part), Zavolzhsky and Crimea-Caucasian. As of now, all of them are significantly changed by human activities. One of the most important parts of forest-steppe ecosystems are rodents. Therefore, in this work we describe the rodent fauna of European Russia. We have compiled a general list of all rodent species for the study area, revealed their taxonomic composition, geographical, ecological and other components of their fauna. Additionally, we evaluated differences and similarities in their species composition in different regions. In total, we have recorded 44 rodent species in the forest-steppe of European Russia: 35 species in Dneprovsky-Privolzhsky biome, 27 in Zavolzhsky, 25 in Northern Caucasus, and 20 in Crimea. There are 37 species in the zonal forest-steppe, and 30 in the barrier forest-steppe of Crimea and Caucasus. Muridae (25%) and Cricetidae (36%) prevail in taxonomic composition. The most dominant species are the Eurasian steppe (9 = 21%), European-Siberian steppe (8 = 18%), European forest (6=14%), and European steppe (6 = 14%). Steppe and desert-steppe rodents (17 species) make up 39% of the total rodents fauna, while boreal, nemoral and nemoral-boreal ones make up 30% with 13 species.

Funding. This work was carried out as part of the state assignment for M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University “Spatiotemporal Organization of Ecosystems in Conditions of Environmental Changes”, No. TsITIS 121051100137-4, and supported by the Program of Development of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (#1220).

Keywords: forest-steppe, European Russia, biomes, rodents, species lists, faunistic elements.

DOI: 10.24412/1993-3916-2025-2-142-153

EDN: QTIFGV