The Common Hamster Cricetus cricetus L., 1758 in Western Siberia: the species’ past, present and future

Abstract

Aim. To analyse the data on spreading and population of the common hamster in Western Siberia from the mid‐20th to early 21st centuries and to determine the major predictors affecting these parameters.Material and Methods. Long‐term data on species’ population from the Zoomonitor Databank (Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ISEA SB RAS), populace survey data and field observations provided by scholars over recent years were used. The maximum entropy method was used to model the species’ ecological niche and range based on 82 common hamster sighting spots in Western Siberia. 19 bioclimatic factors as well as various soil types were used.Results. The reduction of range and threefold decrease of common hamster population until the 90s of the last century and a local increase in the number of the population at the beginning of the 21st century were noted. The main causes of the population decline include extensive extermination through the procurement of common hamster fur skins and limiting the harm caused as well as agricultural area size dynamics. The bioclimatic correlations revealed of the distribution of the common hamster, considered together with models of climate changes, suggest the possibility of common hamster obsolescence in modern steppe areas and its according repopulation of the large river bottomlands to the north of the current range.Conclusion. For the Asian section of its range, the species’ status is not so disastrous due to less prominent factors negatively impacting the population. The lack of previous studies of the species’ ecology in Western Siberia calls for the conducting of multi‐aspect studies, including monitoring the tendencies of the limiting factors’ dynamics.