New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
The stoat Mustela erminea population
decline in
northern Belarus
and its consequences for weasels Mustela nivalis
Vadim E. Sidorovich
Irina A. Solovej
The Vertebrate Predation Research Group
Institute
of Zoology
National
Academy
of Sciences of Belarus
Akademicheskaya Str. 27
220072 Minsk, Belarus
vadimsid@mustbel.open.by
Abstract In northern Belarus,
we have documented a decline in the local stoat Mustela erminea
population following the naturalisation of the American mink Mustela
vison.
The most likely cause is the reduction in the density and distribution
of the
main prey of stoats, the riparian voles (the water vole Arvicola
terrestris and
the root vole Microtus oeconomus), due to excessive predation
by mink.
Since the stoat population has declined, the number of weasels Mustela
nivalis in marshlands has increased and their mean body
mass has
increased, correlated with the higher number and mean weights of
rodents
available for weasels in marshland compared with forest habitats.
Keywords weasel; stoat;
competition; habitat
selection; invasive mink; abundance indices; Belarus
New Zealand
Journal of Zoology, 2007, Vol. 34: 9–23
0301–4223/07/3401–0009 © The Royal Society
of New Zealand
2007
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