Transformation of Bird and Mammal Faunas in Steppe Ecosystems under the Impact of Plowing: The Example of Saratov Steppes

摘要

The impact of plowing on the bird and mammal faunas of steppe landscapes is considered using the example of steppes in the Saratov Region. It is shown that the faunas of ground-nesting birds and small mammals in crop-rotation fields represent impoverished variants of the same faunas in natural steppe landscapes with their characteristic diversity of habitats. As a rule, dominance in the fields belongs to bird and mammal species that, prior to extensive plowing of the steppes, inhabited intrazonal landscape elements. Only a few species characteristic of zonal steppe habitats have adapted to living in crop-rotation fields.