Comparing three Live trapping methods for small mammal sampling in cultivated areas of NE Spain

Abstract

We aimed to investigate trap efficiency and specificity of three widely used live trapping methods (Sherman, mesh, and pitfall traps) in an agricultural landscape of NE Spain. We trapped 243 small mammals of 8 different species. Sherman traps yielded more species (6) than mesh (5) and pitfall (3) traps. Log-linear analysis for contingency tables showed that the three trapping methods used were species-specific and the analysis of the standardized residuals pointed out that Apodemus sylvaticus and Mus spretus were under- sampled by pitfall traps, whereas Suncus etruscus and Microtus duodecimcostatus were significantly over-sampled by pitfall traps. Finally, Suncus etruscus was significantly un- der-sampled by Sherman and mesh traps. The composition of the small mammal commu- nity studied was rather similar when using Sherman and mesh traps, but differed strongly from the community sampled by pitfall traps. As previously pointed out by many authors, a combination of trapping techniques is necessary to assess the composition of small mam- mal communities.