Have the basic parameters of the ecological niche of Marmota bobak in Ukraine changed during last centuries? Les paramètres de base de la niche écologique de Marmota Bobak ont-ils changé en Ukraine au cours de siècles?].

Résumé

Since the late XVIII-th century, the environment of Marmota bobak has been exposed to anthropogenous transformation and converted to the field of agricultural activity. In many current publications (Tokarsky, Brandler, 1990; Mashkin 1993, 1997; Tokarsky 2005; etc;) the suggestion is made that during the latest century the European subspecies of the steppe marmot (Marmota bobak bobak Müller (1776) has undergone strong ecological and ethological changes and is acquiring new features which were not typical of it before. The given assumption is grounded on the basis thesis that, in the recent past, as a result of continuous conversion of the steppe territories to the broken terrain which could not be ploughed up (gullies, i.e. balki). This assumption, however, does not prove to be true by the historical evidence (see Savchenko, Ronkin present edition). We consider that only historical approach in ecology allows to answer many important questions. Such approach is especially necessary for the correct decision of the question “When this or that process began?” In our report, we describe the area of various environmental influence factors, in which the steppe marmot can continue to exist unlimitedly long time. Also, we will make an attempt to answer the main question, whether the change of the basis parameters of the steppe marmot’s ecological niche has taken place in Ukraine during the recent centuries.