Abstract
Nesting is a central topic in the behavioural ecology of many species, but data on the materials used to construct mammal nests are rarely reported. This paper describes the most commonly used components from 25 summer nests of the garden dormouse, a small threatened rodent endemic to Europe. Median nest dry weight of 25 nests was 15.5 g (10.3–21.1 g) and moss was the most common material (78 %), followed by leaves (9 %). Mosses were also the most frequently used material, with Hypnum cupressiforme being the most frequently used taxon in 11 out of 25 nests.
Funding source: German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
Acknowledgments
We thank Monika Göhlich, Steffi Jessolat, Corina Klein, Andreas Martius and Hannes Sollfrank and volunteers from BUND groups Wiesbaden and Flörsheim for collecting garden dormouse nests and Renate Rabenstein for the picture. We thank two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the first version of the manuscript.
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Research ethics: No animals were disturbed during this study as only abandoned nests were collected.
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Author contributions: JL and SB devised the study. RK dissected the nests and identified the material under supervision of JL. JL and SB wrote the paper. All authors provided comments on the manuscript and approved the final version for publication.
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Competing interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: This study is part of the project “In Search of the Garden Dormouse” in Germany that was funded by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation with resources from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.
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Data availability: Not applicable.
References
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Supplementary Material
This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2024-0014).
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Ecology
- Novel insights into red deer (Cervus elaphus) habitat use and suitability in human-dominated versus near-natural landscapes
- Effect of conifer afforestation on the occurrence and food availability for Zaedyus pichiy (Xenarthra: Chlamyphoridae) in the north-western Patagonian steppe of Argentina
- Effect of seasonal variation on feeding and food preference of olive baboons (Papio anubis) in a protected Guinean savannah of West Africa
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- The forbidden fruit: toque macaques (Macaca sinica) feeding on invasive pond apple (Annona glabra) in Sri Lankan mangroves
- Electrocutions as an important cause of mortality for a mesocarnivore
- Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and mesocarnivores in a Mongolian protected area
- Materials of garden dormouse summer nests in Germany
- Increase in the frequency of melanism in Abert’s Squirrel in Boulder, Colorado
- The importance of rodents to a specialist carnivore in an industrialized site
- A stranding of pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) near Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico confirms the presence of the species in the Mexican Caribbean
- First report of a leucistic Brown Agouti (Dasyprocta variegata) in Bolivia
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- Molecular analysis reveals the evolutionary distinctiveness of the Silver-backed Chevrotain within the genus Tragulus
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