Specific Features of the Formation of Animal Species Communities in Technogenic and Urbanized Landscapes

The formation of the species composition and specific functional, physiological, and phenotypic features of populations in technogenic and urbanized areas was studied by analyzing murine rodents, amphibians, and soil invertebrates. It is shown that, against the background of decreasing total abundance and biomass of animals, their formerly continuous ranges become mosaic, with the locally increasing animal density and heterogeneity and specific population dynamics. Species diversity decreases; however, species alien to the natural ecosystems of the given territory appear. Changes in the strategies of reproduction and food resource use were revealed in the species communities of small mammals and amphibians.