Spatial-typological differentiation of ecosystems of the west siberian plain. Communication IV: Terrestrial vertebrates

• Published in: Contemporary problems of ecology Vol. 4; no. 4; pp. 355 - 365
• Main Authors: Ravkin, Yu. S., Bogomolova, I. N., Chesnokova, S. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht SP MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica 01.08.2011; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal populations; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Boundaries; Classification; Cluster analysis; Communication; Communications; Data processing; Differentiation; Ecology; Ecosystems; Heterogeneity; Life Sciences; plains; Steppes; Taiga; Taiga & tundra; taxa; Terrestrial ecosystems; Tundra; Vegetation; Vertebrates; Waterlogging; Siberia; Russia; Russia, Siberia; mammals; reptiles; West Siberia; birds; cluster analysis; spatial differentiation of communities; vertebrates; amphibians
• ISSN: 1995-4255; 1995-4263
• DOI: 10.1134/S1995425511040023

Differentiation of the vertebrate communities almost coincides with the differentiation of ecosystems in vegetation at the type level, as judged by formalized classifications of various blocks of ecosystems of West Siberia by geobotanical map units, and it differs significantly from that in the underground component due to the greater effect of waterlogging on the latter. In invertebrate communities, significant differences are observed in the boreal-subboreal part, where waterlogging is more significant and greater similarity is found among middle and southern-taiga communities than among subtaiga-steppe ones. Over the groups of map units, the heterogeneity of the vertebrate communities differs from that in all the examined blocks of ecosystems in greater differentiation in the tundra zone. In the pretundra northern taiga subzones and from the middle taiga to the steppe zone, the heterogeneity of vertebrate communities is somewhat lower than that of vegetation, and especially in the underground block of ecosystems. However, these differences relate only to the hierarchy of the division, and often occur at the level of taxa of the rank of subtype or class. All these data indicate the relative independence of changes in the distinguished blocks of ecosystems, which gives rise to noncoincidence of the boundaries and sizes of taxa within them, as well as the continuality of the ecosystems as a whole. A significant difference is observed between the traditional geobotanical and typological-chorological zones of terrestrial vertebrate communities.