Relative use of xeric boreal habitats by shrews (Sorex spp.)
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Thomas S. Jung
und
Brian G. Slough
Abstract
Few studies have explicitly examined habitat use by shrews (Sorex spp.) in the boreal forest of western North America. We conducted pitfall trapping in six common xeric habitat types in Yukon, Canada, to determine their relative use by shrews. The overall capture rate was 0.47 shrews per 100 trap nights (TN), with a total sampling effort of 3652 TN. Cinereus shrews (Sorex cinereus; 0.25 per 100 TN) were the most common species, followed by dusky shrews (Sorex monticolus; 0.14 per 100 TN) and American pygmy shrews (Sorex hoyi; 0.08 per 100 TN). Shrew capture rates and species richness was low in all habitat types sampled. Cinereus shrews were captured in similar numbers in boreal mixedwood forest and alpine shrub habitats, and rarely in other lowland forest habitat types. Dusky shrews were captured largely in alpine shrub habitats, while pygmy shrews were captured only in lowland forest habitat types. The relative use of alpine shrub habitat by cinereus shrews and dusky shrews was not expected. Our data was limited by low captures; however, we provide a first approximation of the relative use of common forest types and subalpine shrub habitat in the boreal forest of northwestern Canada.
Funding source: Government of Yukon
Funding source: Northern Research Institute
Acknowledgments
We thank Chelsea Wilkinson for field assistance. Three anonymous reviewers and the Associate Editor (Dr. Boris Kryštufek) kindly provided comments on an earlier draft of this note.
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Author contributions: Both authors designed the study, collected data, and reviewed and approved the manuscript. TSJ did the analyses and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript.
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Research funding: Funding was provided by the Government of Yukon to TSJ and a grant from the Northern Research Institute, Yukon College to BGS.
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Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest regarding this article.
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Research ethics: Shrew trapping conformed to animal capture and use guidelines by the American Society of Mammalogists (Animal Care and Use Committee 1998). Our work was in accordance with regulations in the Yukon Wildlife Act, with TSJ as a permittee in regulations to that legislation. Additionally, our collection of shrew specimens was done under a Yukon Scientific and Explorer’s Act permit (#02-08) to BGS. Voucher specimens were deposited at the Museum of Southwestern Biology (University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA) by TSJ.
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© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Ecology
- Diet and activity pattern of leopard in relation to prey in tropical forest ecosystem
- Potential predators of Dolichotis patagonum in the surroundings of its burrows, in Sierra de las Quijadas National Park, San Luis, Argentina
- A pilot study on the home range and movement patterns of the Andean Fox Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) in Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador
- Bat species of a karstic region in the Brazilian savanna and extension of the Hsunycteris thomasi (Phyllostomidae: Lonchophyllinae) distribution
- Habitat selection of invasive alien Pallas’s squirrels (Callosciurus erythraeus) in an urban habitat with small fragmented green spaces
- Relative use of xeric boreal habitats by shrews (Sorex spp.)
- Ethology
- Behavioral response of wild mammals to pre-existing and artificial latrines of raccoon dogs in northeastern Japan
- Biogeography
- The distribution of American mink (Neovison vison) in Greece
- Taxonomy/Phylogeny
- A new subspecies of Finlayson’s squirrel from an isolated island offshore of the Indochina Peninsula in southern Vietnam
- Desmodilliscus braueri crania compared to Pachyuromys duprasi (Desmodilliscini, Gerbillinae, Rodentia)
- Morphological variation in bony structures of Hylaeamys seuanezi (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) in Southern Bahia, Brazil
- Annual Reviewer Acknowledgement
- Reviewer acknowledgement Mammalia volume 85 (2021)
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Ecology
- Diet and activity pattern of leopard in relation to prey in tropical forest ecosystem
- Potential predators of Dolichotis patagonum in the surroundings of its burrows, in Sierra de las Quijadas National Park, San Luis, Argentina
- A pilot study on the home range and movement patterns of the Andean Fox Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) in Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador
- Bat species of a karstic region in the Brazilian savanna and extension of the Hsunycteris thomasi (Phyllostomidae: Lonchophyllinae) distribution
- Habitat selection of invasive alien Pallas’s squirrels (Callosciurus erythraeus) in an urban habitat with small fragmented green spaces
- Relative use of xeric boreal habitats by shrews (Sorex spp.)
- Ethology
- Behavioral response of wild mammals to pre-existing and artificial latrines of raccoon dogs in northeastern Japan
- Biogeography
- The distribution of American mink (Neovison vison) in Greece
- Taxonomy/Phylogeny
- A new subspecies of Finlayson’s squirrel from an isolated island offshore of the Indochina Peninsula in southern Vietnam
- Desmodilliscus braueri crania compared to Pachyuromys duprasi (Desmodilliscini, Gerbillinae, Rodentia)
- Morphological variation in bony structures of Hylaeamys seuanezi (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) in Southern Bahia, Brazil
- Annual Reviewer Acknowledgement
- Reviewer acknowledgement Mammalia volume 85 (2021)
