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Changes in aquatic plant communitieson the island of Valaam due to invasion by the muskrat Ondatra zibethicus L.(Rodentia, Mammalia)

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Abstract

Muskrat invaded Valaam Island (Northern part of European Russia) in the 1970s. Aquatic plant communities of 1962 and 1993 were compared on the same plots. Quantitative changes were tested with the help of jack-knifing estimates of most known inventory (α-) diversity indicators. Qualitative transformations were assessed using β-diversity values. The results demonstrated substantially more discriminant ability of diversity measures than classical methods of mathematical statistics. All of the α-diversity values declined synchronously without exception. Species composition also changed greatly and those species which turn out to be more resistant to muskrat grazing became the main dominant plants. The activity of Ondatra became the over-riding ecological factor connecting the littoral plant communities of the Valaam. It is concluded that the sustainability of this ecosystem was damaged by muskrat's invasion and that the role of muskrat should not be underestimated when studying the ecology of freshwater littoral communities.

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  1. Department of Biogeography, Institute of Geography RAS, Staromonetny 29, Moscow, Russia, 109017

    Vladimir V. Smirnov & Kirill Tretyakov

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  1. Vladimir V. Smirnov
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  2. Kirill Tretyakov
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Smirnov, V.V., Tretyakov, K. Changes in aquatic plant communitieson the island of Valaam due to invasion by the muskrat Ondatra zibethicus L.(Rodentia, Mammalia). Biodiversity and Conservation 7, 673–690 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008860603166

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