[Variations of some physiological and biochemical indices in the population of red-backed vole (Clethrionomys rutilus)].
We studied the changes in the population density of the red-backed vole (Clethrionomys rutilus Pall.) on the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk (60 degrees N) during three population cycles (1980-1990). A total of 3111 animals were studied, including 1006 alive voles. For evaluation of the population stress and food deficit, a complex of biochemical (blood level of glucose and liver levels of glycogen and lipids) and physiological (blood content of leucocytes, spleen weight, etc.) indices was used. At a high population density, the influence of stress continues during the reproductive period, after its termination, and, supposedly, until the beginning of a new reproductive period, while at a low population density, the consequences of stress were expressed only in the second half of the reproductive period. The signs of starvation were recorded only in some semiadult voles in a high density population. It has been confirmed that stress acts as a mechanism involved in regulation of the population density of small rodents.
Cherniavskiĭ
F B
FB
Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Portovaya 18, Magadan, 685000 Russia.
Lazutkin
A N
AN
Mosin
A F
AF
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008112:Liver Glycogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012621:Seasons; D012800:Siberia
D008112:Liver Glycogen