Effect of cattle grazing on habitats for the steppe marmot (Marmota bobak) in North-Eastern Ukraine [Effet du paturage du bétail sur les habitats de la marmotte des steppes (Marmota bobac) dans le Nord-Est de l’Ukraine)].

Résumé

Qualitative and quantitative composition of vegetation cover, foraging and diet of the steppe marmot (Marmota bobak Mu ll.) were studied in 1990-1997 at a stationary site in north-east of Kharkov region. The green food intake rate was chosen as a criterion for the foraging quality evaluation of different steppe marmot habitats. Cattle grazing leads to diminishing of the vegetation cover diversity and to disappearing of those patches where the green food intake rate by the steppe marmot is the least one. Accordingly the values of the food intake rate, the high proportion of dead plants together with species rejected or eaten in low quantities (for similar mass of forage plants) relative to total aboveground plant mass diminishes the accessibility to forage and worsens foraging conditions for marmots.