Vývoj rozšírenia a početnosti svišťa Vrchovského Tatranského so zameraním na západné a Belianske Tatry. [Histoire de la distribution et de l’abondance de la marmotte des tatras dans les Tatras occidentales et Bielanske. History of distribution and abundance of the Tatra marmot in the territory of Západné Tatry Mts. and Belianske Tatry Mts].

Résumé

From 13 century, man began to influence the alpine zone. In the 17th century people hunted tatra marmots (Marmota marmota latirostris) on a larger scale. The first half of the 18th century cattle and sheep grazing and poaching have caused notable reduction in their abundance. The number of marmots began to increase until the second half of the 19th century because of their protection. Their abundance until World War II increased slightly in the Západné Tatry Mts. During World War I marmots abundance decreased slightly in the Belianske Tatry Mts. After the World War I, their abundance in this area began to increase. Poachers have intensified their activities during the Great Depression in the Belianske Tatry Mts and thus they reduced abundance of marmots there. After the World War II there was a reduction in the number of marmots due to poaching and grazing throughout the Tatry Mts. Enacting the Tatra National Park and the subsequent exclusion of grazing in 1955, the abundance of marmots started to rise again in the Tatry Mts. For still unexplained reasons the marmots became extinct in the Belianske Tatry Mts, so they were reintroduced there from the Západné Tatry Mts. Nowadays there live about 474 individuals in the Západné Tatry Mts. Current abundance of marmot is stabilized with a slight declining trend.