Ecological structure and dynamics of the population of small mammals in the Karelian Ladoga region

This report summarizes the results of a long-term (1965-2020) study of the population ecology of 19 species of small mammals in the Northeastern Ladoga region (Pitkyarantsky district of Karelia). This region represents for many of them the northern periphery of their range. The article analyzes the biocenotic groupings of the studied species of shrews and mouse-like rodents, their abundance, its dynamics and its determining factors, as well as the ecological and territorial structure of populations and their features associated with the habitat at the northern borders of the distribution. In a comparative ecological aspect, the landscape specifics of the impact of forest exploitation and other anthropogenic influences on the structure of habitats, the number and condition of populations of small mammals of the northern taiga are also affected. Attention is paid to the analysis of structural and population adaptations of species and the mechanisms of their expansion and consolidation in the North.