экология

THE TENGMALM’S OWL (AEGOLIUS FUNEREUS) (STRIGIDAE, AVES) IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS

Tengmalm’s Owl (Aegolius funereus caucasicus But.) inhabits dark coniferous, pine and deciduous forests in the mountains of the North Caucasus from the City of Tuapse in the west to the Inner Dagestan in the east, rising to pine forests to a height of 1,900 - 2,000 m above sea level. During its winter wanderings it occasionally occurs in the foothills, but almost does not go out to the piedmont plains. Winter records in the steppe regions of Ciscaucasia may refer to nomadic specimens of a nominate subspecies (A. f.

THERMAL MODE OF THE HABITATS OF THE RUSSIAN DESMAN (DESMANA MOSCHATA, TALPIDAE, SORICOMORPHA)

The seasonal changes of the soil and water temperature of reservoirs the forest (the Klyazma river) and meadow (the Oka river) floodplains inhabited by the Russian desman were studied. The temperature range which the animal lives within varies from 0 - 7°C in the winter to 8 - 23°C in the summer. Due to the large volume of water and groundwater, desmans do not face negative temperatures in the winter in their burrows.

ON THE SPECIFIC COMPOSITION, DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY OF VOLES (MAMMALIA, CRICETIDAE, MICROTINA) IN THE NORTH-WESTERN CAUCASUS

Molecular-genetic typing was done for voles in the vicinity of the Pslukh forest station (the south of the Caucasus nature reserve), the Krasnaya Polyana, and the Utrish nature reserve (the Abrau peninsula). Based on the nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, the voles from the Krasnaya Polyana and Pslukh station were attributed to Robert’s snow vole (Chionomys roberti), whereas the animals from the Utrish nature reserve belong to the Eastern-European vole (Microtus rossiaemeridionalis).