Ag. Vasilyev et Ia. Vasilyeva, NONMETRIC VARIATION IN RED VOLE POPULATIONS WITHIN THE EAST-URAL RADIOACTIVE TRACK (EURT) ZONE, Acta Theriologica, 1995, pp. 55-64
Ecological monitoring of red vole Clethrionomys rutilus (Pallas, 1778)
populations, carried out for two years (1992-1993) in the Sverdlovsk
region near Kamensk-Ural'ski, revealed an increase of morphological di
versity in terms of non-metric skull traits along the axis of the East
-Ural Radioactive Track (EURT). In the population affected by radioact
ive contamination, frequencies of non-metric skull traits deviated sig
nificantly from those in two control populations located beyond the EU
RT boundaries. The deviations were not related to particular environme
ntal factors varying among the years of our study, which implied a gen
etic basis of non-metric differentiation. We suggest that the observed
increase of phenotypic malformations within the EURT zone has been ca
used by the permanent impact of low doses of radioactive contamination
, leading to an accumulation of minor mutations and to disturbances in
regular ontogenetic development of the red vole.