Muroid rodents of the lowland part of Transcarpathia: state of populations and morphophysiology

Abstract

The present paper deals with the results of investigation of muroid rodent populations inhabiting on the Transcarpathian lowland. The field works to collect materials were held in three types of biotopes within the Berehove raion. The paper contains information on the most common species of muroid rodents within the studied area, which is a typical lowland region of Transcarpathia. The relative abundance and tendencies in the sex and age structure of populations are analyzed. The lengths of the body, tail, foot and auricle were measured to investigate the age- and sex-related variability of morphological features. The relative weight of physiologically important organs such as heart, liver, kidneys and adrenal glands were defined with the aim to study the patterns of variability of morphophysiological indexes. All data were subjected to statistical analysis to obtain information on the variability of those parameters in different intrapopulation groups. In some species there were analyzed the age-related and seasonal variability of morphophysiological indicators in different intrapopulation groups, and also the interspecific variability of these parameters in order to study the effect of the environmental factors on the organism’s physiology.

Keywords

• Muroidea
• Transcarpathia
• abundance
• sex and age structure
• morphophysiology