Primeros resultados del programa de seguimiento de micromamíferos comunes de España (SEMICE)

Abstract

We present the results of the first two years of monitoring common small mammals in Spain (SEMICE), developed during 2008 and 2009 in Catalonia and Andorra. The 30 stations (some of them managed by volunteers) are distributed across both the Network of Natural Parks of Barcelona and the Pyrenees, a fact that will provide a reference on small mammal communities in subalpine areas, and allow comparison with those observed in the Mediterranean area. The plots are located across an altitudinal gradient of more than 2,000 m (95-2,255 m.a.s.l.) from typically Mediterranean areas (pine, scrub and oak), through subalpine mountain (scree and meadows), to Eurosiberiane forests (oak and fir). We have used a standardized sampling methodology, consisting of live trapping with Longworth traps in plots of 36 traps spaced 15 meters (0.56 ha). In the Pyrenees we alternated plots with Longworth and Sherman traps to allow the capture of larger species. Throughout the years 2008 and 2009, we captured a total of 1,391 small mammals of 15 species (5 soricidae and 10 rodentia), which represents half of the known species in Catalonia and Andorra. Mammal populations are dominated by Apodemus sp., Crocidura russula, and Mus spretus in the Mediterranean area, and by Myodes glareolus, Apodemus sp. and Eliomys quercinus in the Pyrenees mountains.