Influence of anthropogenic transformation of the forest ecosystems in Easten fennoscandia on the populations of pygmy and masked shrews

According to the long-term (1965-2013) stationary and expedition studies in the Easten Fennoscandia, different species of shrews react differently to clear-cutting and the formation of transformed anthropogenic landscape. The dominant species (common shrew) increases in the number in these conditions, however, the population becomes unstable, and the number fluctuates severely from year to year and from season to season (Kurhinen et al., 2006), but the other species - pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus L.) and masked shrew (Sorex caecutiens Laxm.) – respond to these changes otherwise. The first one reduces in the number, especially in highly transformed habitats, but in general, its populations acquire the necessary stability and sustainability, while the masked shrew is affected by the massive lumbering negatively. Nevertheless, the latter is regularly found in the newly formed coniferous plantations emerging after the radical forest devastation.