Forage plants for the northern pika (<i>Ochotona hyperborea</i> Pallas) in the Chuvansky Range System (South Chukotka)

Abstract

The northern pika (Ochotona hyperborea Pallas) is a small herbivorous animal from the Ochtonidae family, widely distributed in the mountains of Northeast Asia. Despite its small size, the northern pika plays a noticeable role in the transformation of organic substances of biocenoses. An essential feature of these mammals is the procurement of plant food for the winter period. The food ration of the animals is very diverse and depends on the structure of the surrounding vegetation. It includes aerial parts of shrubs, sub‑shrubs, herbaceous plants, ferns, Equisetum species, rarely trees, bushy lichens, fungi and very rarely mosses. According to our analysis of the literature data, more than 220 species of vascular plants are included in the diet of the northern pika in Northeast Asia. During a survey of the northern spurs of the Chuvansky Range in the basin of the Ozernoe Gorlo river (Anadyr river basin), 14 species of vascular plants, 8 species of bushy lichens and 1 species of moss were identified in winter stocks of the northern pika on 2 terrain areas differing in landscape and vegetation structure. Salix pulchra, S. berberifolia subsp. tschuktschorum, Chamaenerion latifolium, Vaccinium uliginosum subsp. microphyllum, Empetrum nigrum, Ledum palustre subsp. Decumbens are of great importance as the preferred food of northern pika in this territory. In addition, the Dryopteris fragrans fern and more rarely Betula nana, are harvested quite sustainably in one of the sections of a stone scree (stone run) surrounded by a Pinus pumila community. The role of bushy lichens and mosses in the nutrition of the northern pika needs to be clarified.