The mammal fauna of the Mykhailivska Tsilyna Nature Reserve: assessment of diversity and factors of its support

Abstract

At the time of the creation of the Mykhailivska Tsilyna Nature Reserve (1928), it was a completely forestless steppe area with an area of 202.2 hectares. Presumably, 17 mammal species from 11 families and 5 orders were distributed in its territory, and 1 species (steppe marmot) had already disappeared. Of them, 8 species belonged to the steppe faunal core, 3 species were confined to floodplain meadows, and 6 species were widespread. Fifteen species occurred permanently and two species were recorded with a varying frequency. In the early 1950s, substantial changes took place in and around the nature reserve. A ditch was dug around the perimeter of the reserve and a forest belt was planted. Two much bigger and deeper ponds were created on the site of a small pond. A house and a brick stable were built on the steppe area, and apple trees and an alley of ornamental shrubs were planted. After the reserve was granted republican status in 1947, its environmental protection regime changed, and this had a notable impact on the vegetation. After grazing and mowing were banned, a thick layer of dead plant remains on the ground surface, reaching 5–10 cm in thickness, appeared in most of the reserve’s territory. At that time, an absolute protected regime was established on an area of about 100 hectares. The rest of the area was periodically mowed. In the early 1980s, the ponds were heavily overgrown with aquatic and wetland vegetation, and the banks were overgrown with trees and bushes. Fish were introduced into the ponds. The woody vegetation in the forest belt also grew substantially and became dense. Since 1998, the nature protection regime in the reserve has changed: the ‘periodically mowed steppe’ was mown annually for four years, and there was a break in the fifth year. All this affected the fauna and mammal population of the reserve. In 2009, the area of the reserve was increased to 880 hectares. As a result, a pond (300 x 33 m) appeared in its territory, located near the village of Stepove. A small pond (70 x 12 m) was formed in a ravine in the northern part of the reserve because of the activity of beavers. As of 2023, 24 mammal species from 16 families and 5 orders were recorded here. Of them, 4 species belong to steppe species, 2 to hydrophilic species, 5 to forest species, 12 species are widespread, and there is 1 synanthropic species. Eighteen species occur permanently in the reserve, five species visit the reserve regularly, and one synanthropic species settles in during the warm period of the year.