Abstract—
At present, in Central Yakutia on the right bank of the Lena River, the northern border of the distribution of the Siberian musk deer has advanced to the mouth and lower reaches of the Aldan River; on the left bank, it reaches to the settlement of Elanka and the Keteme River. The northernmost points of entry along the left bank of the Lena River were noted 150 km from Yakutsk. The movement of musk deer populations reveals an association with climate warming and an increase in the snow cover height. Musk deer settle in many regions of relatively little snow like Central Yakutia, which includes taiga–alas landscapes with a large number of settlements and significant areas of hay, arable, and pasture lands. This is the first manifestation of the ability of the species to settle locally in agricultural regions with a relatively high density of the human population. At this stage, the expansion of the Siberian musk deer range to the north did not reach the southern border of the distribution of the Verkhoyansk subspecies. The issues of the effect of hunting pressure and predators on the number of musk deer and the effect of fires on the territorial redistribution of this species are discussed in this article.
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Funding
This work was performed within a State Assignment of the Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, on the project “Cause and Effect Foundations of the Dynamics of Soil Cover and Terrestrial Ecosystems in the Cryolithozone on the Territory of Distribution of Light Breeds in Central Yakutia for the Development of Fundamental Bases for the Protection of Quasi-Equilibrium Rioxerogenic Territories” (topic no. 0297-2021-0044; reg. no. AAAA-A21-121012190036-6) and a State Assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation on the project “Populations and Communities of Animals in Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems in the Cryolithozone of the Eastern Sector of the Russian Arctic and Subarctic: Diversity, Structure, and Stability under Conditions of Natural and Anthropogenic Effects” (topic no. 0297-2021-0044, EGISU NIOKTR no. 121020500194-9).
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Argunov, A.V., Safronov, V.M. New Data on the Distribution of Musk Deer (Moschus moschiferus) in Yakutia. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 49, 558–563 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S106235902205003X
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S106235902205003X