Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2024 number 2

Small mammal communities in different sections of the Middle Ob valley (floodplain and terrace) are considered in the article based on the analysis of our own data and literature sources. Small mammals were captured using similar methods everywhere: metal cones were used that were dug into ditch with pitfalls or placed along polyethylene film fences. During the period 2004-2022, we counted 16517 individuals of 21 species in the Middle Ob valley within the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Ugra. A total of 28-29 species of insectivores and rodents were recorded in the southern taiga and middle taiga areas of the Middle Ob valley. The lack of specificity in the number of animal species is determined by the fact that at present there is no complete clarity for the studied area with respect to voles of the “arvalis” group. Essays are given for all species encountered, describing the occurrence, abundance, and other aspects of small mammal ecology. The specifics of the southern taiga and middle taiga sections of the Middle Ob valley, as well as the floodplain and terrace as a whole, were revealed. Only in the southern taiga section of the Middle Ob valley, the common hamster, narrow-headed vole (southern subspecies), Korean field mouse, and herb wood mouse, which are not common in the middle taiga sections of the studied area, are found. These same species also avoid floodplain biotopes. The list of dominant species was determined for the floodplain - the common shrew and the root vole, for the terrace - the common shrew and the Northern red-backed vole. The co-dominant species are the Eurasian pygmy shrew and Laxmann’s shrew, as well as the harvest mouse. The valley of the Middle Ob is dominated by western Palearctic species. They tend to dominate both the floodplain and the terrace.