Small mammal communities of tropical forest habitats in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, southern India
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Small mammal communities were studied in four tropical habitats (dry thorn, dry and moist deciduous, and semi-evergreen forests) in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, southern India. Species composition, community structure, and population variables of small mammals in these habitats were examined. The relationship between small mammal community structure and select habitat variables was also examined. Six species of rodents and one insectivore were represented by 396 captures of 195 individuals out of a total of 7,425 trap nights (5.3% capture rate). Small mammals showed distinct distribution patterns across habitat types. Community structure, species richness, species diversity, relative abundance, and biomass varied across habitats, with each type having a different dominant species. Cremnomys blanfordi, which was the most abundant species, comprised 39%, Mus platythrix 29%, Rattus rattus 12%, M. musculus 9%, Tatera indica 5%, Suncus montanus 5%, and Platacanthomys lasiurus 1% of captures. Deciduous forest habitats supported the highest abundance and biomass of small mammals. However, based on the distinct distribution patterns, all four forest types are believed to be important for maintaining the local diversity of small mammal populations. Small mammal abundance was positively correlated with habitat heterogeneity. Although the community structure of small mammals is broadly determined by habitat structure, the specific microhabitat preferences of individual species could not be determined from these data.
Copyright 2005, Walter de Gruyter
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Articles in the same Issue
- Species with fuzzy borders: the taxonomic status and species limits of Saunders' vlei rat, Otomys saundersiae Roberts, 1929 (Rodentia, Muridae, Otomyini)
- Taxonomic status of Micronycteris homezi (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae)
- Small mammals of Maulino forest remnants, a vanishing ecosystem of south-central Chile
- Small mammal communities of tropical forest habitats in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, southern India
- Mensural discrimination of Myotis (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) in the southeastern United States
- Bats of the Potaro Plateau region, western Guyana
- Activity rhythms, movements and patterns of sett use by badgers, Meles meles, in a Mediterranean woodland
- Camera-trap study of ocelot and other secretive mammals in the northern Pantanal
- Defense behavior and nest architecture of Metachirus nudicaudatus Desmarest, 1817 (Marsupialia, Didelphidae)
- New data on chromosomes from murid Rodents of Benin - The karyotype of Myomys derooi
- Glyphonycteris daviesi (Hill, 1964), a rare Central American and Amazonian bat recorded for Eastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae)
- Cache pilferage in red-rumped agoutis (Dasyprocta leporina) (Rodentia)
- Winter distribution of European pine marten (Martes martes) scats in a protected area of Galicia, Spain
- Possible evidence of a thermoregulatory response to increasing above ground ambient temperature in the water vole (Arvicola terrestris L.)
- A documented 20th century record of Javan Rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus from Cambodia
- Régime alimentaire du rat-taupe géant, Cryptomys mechowi, sur le plateau de Bateke, République Démocratique du Congo
