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Population status, habitat associations, and distribution of the steppe polecat Mustela eversmanii in Europe

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Abstract

The steppe polecat Mustela eversmanii is a medium-sized mustelid species whose European population has significantly declined over the past century. However, due to the lack of systematic surveys, little is known about its status and distribution. In this paper, we review the current distribution, habitat associations, and population trends of steppe polecats in Europe and assess the main factors associated with these trends. Our results reveal ongoing population declines in most of the studied countries, which led to fragmentation and local population extinctions at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The species was assessed as rapidly declining in Austria, Czech Republic, Moldova, Slovakia, and Ukraine; declining in Bulgaria; and stable in Hungary. Due to insufficient data, its status was not evaluated for Romania, Poland, and Serbia. M. eversmanii naturally occurs in steppe habitats, but recently seems to have adopted open agricultural landscapes consisting of a mosaic of grasslands, small fields with hedges, and dry embankments. Its distribution often coincides with populations of ground squirrels and hamsters. However, in intensively used agricultural landscapes, smaller rodents (especially voles) could also be an important dietary component. Intensive agricultural production, habitat loss, the degradation of steppe and grassland habitats, and significant declines in the availability of its main prey are the crucial factors for the species’ current population decline. Further research is urgently needed to fill the gaps in our knowledge of its distribution, population densities, feeding ecology, habitat associations, and population genetics. This would enable first steps towards its effective conservation and management strategies.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the information provided by Miklós Heltai (Institute for Wildlife Conservation, Hungary), Dumitru Murariu (“Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History, Bucharest, Romania), Victoria Nistreanu (Institute of Zoology, Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Moldova), Duško Ćirović (Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Serbia), Anton Krištín (Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia), Petr Koubek (Institute of Vertebrate Biology, ASCR, Czech Republic), Wieslaw Bogdanowicz (Museum & Institute of Zoology PAS, Poland), Andrzej Zalewski (Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland), Hermann Ansorge (Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz, Germany), Boris Kryštufek (Group for Biodiversity, Slovenia), Jerzy Romanowski (Centre for Ecological Research PAN, Poland), and Vlasta Škorpíková (Regional Council Znojmo, Czech Republic). We would also like to thank Phil Butterill and Marina Kipson for editing the English manuscript and Frank Zachos, Franz Suchentrunk, and Barbara Herzig for their comments on the first draft of the manuscript. This work was supported by the research aim of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (RVO 68081766).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, 603 65, Brno, Czech Republic

    Martin Šálek

  2. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 Blvd. Tzar Osvoboditel, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Nikolai Spassov

  3. National Museum, Vinohradská 1, 115 79, Praha 1, Czech Republic

    Miloš Anděra

  4. Austrian League of Nature Conservation, Lower Austria, Naturschutzbund NÖ, Mariannengasse 32/16, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Karin Enzinger

  5. Institute of Wildlife Management and Vertebrate Zoology, University of West Hungary, Sopron Ady E. U. 5, 9400, Hungary

    Barnabás Ottlecz

  6. “Milvus Group” Bird and Nature Protection Association, Crinului st. no. 22, Tîrgu-Mureş, Romania

    Zsolt Hegyeli

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  1. Martin Šálek
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  2. Nikolai Spassov
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  3. Miloš Anděra
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  4. Karin Enzinger
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  5. Barnabás Ottlecz
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Correspondence to Martin Šálek.

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Communicated by: Justin G. Boyles

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Šálek, M., Spassov, N., Anděra, M. et al. Population status, habitat associations, and distribution of the steppe polecat Mustela eversmanii in Europe. Acta Theriol 58, 233–244 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-013-0134-0

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