FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE IN POPULATIONS OF SMALL MAMMALS (RADIOBIOLOGICALASPECT)

Two alternative types of ontogenetic development commonly occurring in populations of small mammals were analyzed as a manifestation of the polyvariant developmental potential using the functional approach at t he level of functional physiological groups (FPG). An example of bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) was used to demonstrate that rodents of two developmental types significantly differ in radioresistance, i.e. , in the survival rate and response of their hemopoietic system to acu te total irradiation regarded as an anthropogenic damaging factor. A f orecast is made concerning the possible response of a population to tw o successive damaging factors, of which the first has already resulted in adaptive structural modifications.