Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2023 number 5S

In spite of the fact that the theriofauna of Baikal Siberia has long been studied, there was no work on the conduct of theriogeographic zoning of the territory. The currently available options for zoning the entire country do not take into account the specifics of the regional differentiation of the mammalian population, and the division itself is carried out only at the level of high ranks (regions, provinces, etc.). The basis for the study was provided by accumulated numerous data on the distribution of 101 native species of mammals belonging to six orders, making it possible to identify the features of spatial heterogeneity of the theriofauna of the region. The scheme of the teriogeographic zoning of Baikal Siberia presented in this paper permits a detailed analysis aimed at reflecting the features of differentiation of the regional diversity of fauna and the structure of the mammalian population as well as their genesis, taking into account the landscape-zonal features of the territory. The complexity of zoning such vast territories is due to the fact that the final result is influenced by poor knowledge of remote and hard-to-reach areas, a significant anthropogenic disturbance of old-developed areas, invasions of alien species, changes in the boundaries of native mammal species as well as taxonomic revisions of recent years. By comparing the degree of similarity of mammalian communities by species composition using the Jacquard coefficient, 10 theriogeographical districts of different extent and landscape diversity were identified. The identification of districts is due to the fact that this territory largely differs from the district in its landscape appearance and the specific composition of the theriofauna. A change in the species diversity of mammals clearly shows a decrease in the indicator from the south to the north of the region, which is due to the increased severity of the climate and a decrease in the landscape diversity of the territory. The map is made at a scale of 1:11 000 000 and includes 16 map units in the main layer. Theriogeographical zoning should be considered as a step-by-step generalization in the field of reconstructing faunogenesis and phylogeographical constructions.