Circle of life: the common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) adaptations to the urban environment

Traditionally, urbanization has been seen as a negative phenomenon for biota. However, changes in the environmental parameters induced by urbanization might be favorable for some species. Over the past half‐century, the common hamster has actively populated cities, establishing populations in some E...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Integrative zoology 2019-07, Vol.14 (4), p.383-395
Main Authors: SUROV, Alexey V., ZAYTSEVA, Elena A., KUPTSOV, Alexandr V., KATZMAN, Elena A., BOGOMOLOV, Pavel L., SAYAN, Alexandra S., POTASHNIKOVA, Ekaterina V., TOVPINETZ, Nikolay N., KUZNETSOVA, Ekaterina V., TSELLARIUS, Alexey Y., FEOKTISTOVA, Natalia Y.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Biota
Body mass
Breeding
Environmental changes
Environmental factors
Females
Food resources
Forest resources
Forestry
Hibernation
Life history
Life span
lifespan
Longevity
Males
multiple paternity
Parameters
Paternity
Polyandry
Reproductive behaviour
Species
synurbization
Urban areas
Urban environments
Urbanization
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Summary:Traditionally, urbanization has been seen as a negative phenomenon for biota. However, changes in the environmental parameters induced by urbanization might be favorable for some species. Over the past half‐century, the common hamster has actively populated cities, establishing populations in some European, Russian and Kazakhstan cities. Based on integrative methods, we investigated free‐range common hamsters inhabiting Simferopol from 2015 to 2018 to reveal possible adaptations to the urbanized environment across several parameters, including lifespan, hibernation period, reproductive activity and body mass. Results show that in urban areas, the common hamster demonstrates an extremely short hibernation period compared to other localities, possibly due to enhanced food resources from urban forestry (walnuts, locus and hazelnut), allowing the species to start breeding very early (February) and finish as late as October. We present the first evidence of polyandry for this species: mating of receptive females with several males and subsequent confirmation of multiple paternity. Despite high reproductive potential, the lifespan of the common hamster in urban conditions is generally very short (less than 1 year). We speculate that in the process of synurbization, the common hamster's innate plasticity across many life history traits permits it to successfully colonize throughout a wide range of habitats, with the ability to form novel adaptations to urban environments.
ISSN:1749-4877
1749-4869
1749-4877
DOI:10.1111/1749-4877.12394