The influence of weather conditions on population dynamics of small mammals in the dumps of opencast coal mines

Abstract

Piles of rocks represent the diversity of environmental conditions, which is manifested in the difference of forage and cover conditions. The influence of weather conditions is manifested in a greater degree at the initial stage of formation of ecosystems dumps. The research was carried out on the piles of Borodino brown coal mine section from 2005 to 2014. Data analysis showed a positive correlation of moisture in the area and the abundance of rodents that is not observed for insectivores. The method of correlation analysis showed a weak dependence of population dynamics of small mammals to weather conditions. The study used factor analysis, which grouped the values of population density, diversity, dominance, temperatures of summer and spring, coefficient of moisture, indicators of snow in three clusters. The first cluster combined indicators as diversity and abundance of small mammals. The second cluster combined indicators of moisture in the area, such as summer precipitation and snow cover (snow depth and snowmelt period). The third cluster included the total temperature of the spring and summer period. The description of characteristics of the studied objects in three-dimensional space of factors is obtained. It has allowed revealing of the role of individual indicators on the population dynamics of small mammals.

Keywords

• small mammals
• abundance
• diversity
• spring and summer weather scenarios
• coal piles
• Borodino opencast coal mine
• Krasnoyarsk krai