Proximal jugular venipuncture technique in small mammal species

Effective survey methods to detect small mammal species are often needed to develop conservation and management plans in forested ecosystems. The ability to use non-invasive methods to identify small mammal species in the field is particularly useful as live trapping can be time consuming and potentially harmful to the study species. We tested a camera trap method in a coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forest for small mammals, originally designed by Gracanin et al. (2019) and called the “selfie trap”, that uses a camera trap with a modified lens in a baited PVC tube. We determined if we could use this camera trap set-up on the ground to accurately identify small mammals to species to assess species diversity in a forested ecosystem as well as if it could withstand disturbance from larger mammals (e.g., bears). We surveyed for small mammals in areas of old-growth and second-growth coastal redwood forests in northwestern California. We detected 10 small mammal species and were able to identify most individuals to species including squirrel, chipmunk, mice, woodrat, shrew, vole and mole species. This camera trap set up also detected approximately 77% of small mammal species known to potentially occur in the area. Moreover, although larger mammals could interact with the camera trap set up, their disturbance was limited to when they were interacting with the trap, and the bait and camera set-up remained functional for subsequent small mammal detections. Thus, this method could be used instead of live trapping in complex forested ecosystems to effectively determine small mammal species presence, diversity, and activity levels, avoiding disturbance from large mammals.

Small mammal tree seed selection in mixed forests of the Eastern United States

The study was carried out to assess a Checklist of avifauna and small mammal species along Bade catchment area of Yobe State, Nigeria. Preliminary survey was conducted around the river, three (3) habitat types were identified; (river bank, farm lands and flood plain). The line transect was 8 km in length. Two (2) transects were established per habitat type, making a total of six (6) transects. The transects were 100 m apart to the left or right in order to avoid double counting of species. A distance of 200m was maintained between each habitat. The data obtained were analyses using descriptive statistics (Frequency tables and Charts were used to portrayed the findings. The result of the study; showed that a total of 50 bird species in 28 families were recorded. RB had the highest individuals of Fifty (50) species while FP has the lowest with ten (10) species. The Bird family Columbidae has the highest number with six (6) of species, while the lowest were Ardeidae, Sturnidae and Tytonidae with one species in each of the habitat types. However, checklist of small mammal species also indicated that a total of 6 species of small mammals belonging to 4 families were identified. The result of the study shows that the family Muridae has 3 species which was the highest number of per family identified in the study area, this is due to the fact that Muridae family are the most common small mammals in the study area. And both bird small species fell under least concern (LC) category except Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus which felled under near threatened (NT) species. However, awareness campaign should also be organize for the residents around the study area on the presence, distribution of bird and small mammal species and also disturbing effect of their activities on bird and small mammal around the segment area of river Yobe.

Understanding ecological traits of species associated with vulnerability to habitat fragmentation is important for the development of effective conservation efforts. However, few studies have examined ecological correlates of vulnerability to fragmentation among tropical small mammals at fine spatial scales. Here we use random forests and regression tree models to identify ecological correlates of vulnerability to fragmentation among terrestrial small mammal species across 2 networks of forest fragments in the East and West Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. Small mammal species vary considerably in their vulnerability to fragmentation as assessed by species occupancy and change in abundance. Random forests models indicate that matrix use is the highest-ranked predictor of vulnerability to fragmentation with small mammal species that do not use or use few matrix habitat types, being more vulnerable to fragmentation than species that use all adjacent matrix habitat types. Our results emphasize the importance of local-scale approaches for designing conservation strategies for Afrotropical small mammal species.

Use of short-rotation coppice willow crops by birds and small mammals in central New York

Effective conservation management requires an understanding of the source and direction of the many interactions that occur within ecological communities. Without this understanding, management interventions such as control or eradication of introduced species can have unexpected and undesirable outcomes. One of the challenges for wildlife managers is to garner relevant information for their site of management. In this paper we describe how images of mammals captured on remote cameras can be used to uncover behavioral interactions that can in turn help to identify and prioritize areas for more explicit research or management. Our cameras were set repeatedly at four sites over three years in Tasmania, Australia, and we used a series of generalized linear mixed models to interpret relative changes in count data of three species of small mammals: the introduced black ratRattus rattus, and the native long‐tailed mousePseudomys higginsiand swamp ratRattus lutreolus velutinus. We also included two potential predators, the introduced feral catFelis catusand the native Tasmanian devilSarcophilus harrisii. We found that counts of the two species of native small mammals were correlated positively with each other, that swamp rats had a negative effect on black rats, and that black rats had a negative effect on the long‐tailed mouse. Devils were important effects in most small mammal models. Despite their effect probably being underestimated by the remote camera survey method, feral cats were included in models for the long‐tailed mouse. On the basis of the inclusion of native and both species of introduced mammals in long‐tailed mouse models, we propose that the long‐tailed mouse is a priority for further research. This research should clarify the competitive dominance and predatory pressure exerted by the black rat and feral cat, respectively, on this species, and also the potential for management of either introduced species to increase the impact of the other. We conclude that remote cameras can help to uncover cryptic or unsuspected interactions within ecological communities, and hence provide an informed basis for developing targeted research questions to increase the effectiveness of wildlife management.

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate which small mammal species are the best monitors of specific environmental contaminants. The evaluation is based on the published literature and on an analysis of small mammals trapped at several sites on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Reservation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Studies on the uptake of heavy metals, radionuclides, and organic chemicals are reviewed in Chapter II to evaluate several small mammal species for their capacity to serve as sentinels for the presence, accumulation, and effects of various contaminants. Where several species were present at a site, a comparative evaluation was made and species are ranked for their capacity to serve as monitors of specific contaminants. Food chain accumulation and food habits of the species are used to establish a relationship with suitability as a biomonitor. Tissue-specific concentration factors were noted in order to establish target tissues. Life histories, habitat, and food habits are reviewed in order to make generalizations concerning the ability of similar taxa to serve as biomonitor. Finally, the usefulness of several small mammal species as monitors of three contaminants -- benzo(a)pyrene, mercury, and strontium-90 -- present on or near the ORNL facilities was investigated. 133 refs., 5 figs., 20 tabs.

-In this paper we summarize small mammal studies on Mount St. Helens since its catastrophic eruption in May 1980. Species surviving the initial eruption (residuals) have been described by Andersen and MacMahon (1985a). Herein we document recolonization of small mammals [Rodentia, Insectivora, Lagomorpha and Carnivora (Mustelidae)] into representative sites of four broadly defined montane habitats (forests, clearcuts, subalpine meadows and riparian ravines) that were subjected to increasing degrees of volcanic disturbance (undisturbed, tephrafall, mud flow, tree blowdown and pyroclastic/ debris flow). We live-trapped small mammals on 19 sites (with extensive population studies on 12 sites) from 1980-1987. By 1987, of a hypothetical list of 32 resident small mammal species, six species were captured or observed in the pyroclastic/debris flow zone, 15 species in the tree blowdown zone, and 22 species in the tephrafall zone. Small mammal communities in forest and clear-cut habitats, and across different disturbance zones, exhibited little species similarity among sites, even after 7 years of posteruption recovery. Small mammal species composition in several subalpine meadows converged through time to that found on a clearcut site in a tephrafall zone. Pre-eruption conditions, such as the patchiness of habitats and small mammal populations, and stochastic events, such as (1) the initial survival of small islands of vegetation and resident mammals; (2) localized habitat alteration by posteruption erosional processes, and (3) an unusually wet summer (1983) followed by 3 yr of summer drought (1984-1986), had a major influence on small mammal recolonization in this complex mosaic of habitats. We argue that observed differences in species recolonization and establishment success were more attributable to the availability of requisite food and shelter resources than to differences in species-specific dispersal capabilities. INTRODUCTION The explosive eruption of Mount St. Helens on 18 May 1980 resulted in a large-scale destruction of montane/subalpine forest and meadow habitats and caused the local extirpation of many small mammal species (Franklin et al., 1985). At least 14 species of small mammals survived the initial eruption and concomitant habitat alterations (Andersen, 1982; Andersen and MacMahon, 1985a). Individuals of many residual species survived the volcanic blast by virtue of their fossorial habits; being in underground burrows at the time of the early morning (0832 PDT) eruption shielded them from the rapidly moving hot gasses and tephra. Although the blast virtually annihilated all exposed plants and arthropods in nearby areas N of the volcano, the existence of underground plant parts and invertebrates, combined with a limited rain of recolonizing arthropods onto the disturbed areas (Edwards et al., 1986), provided an adequate food supply for some of the surviving mammals. Localized 'Present address: Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 87131 2 Present address: World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. 3 Present address: Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Headquarters, Route 1, Box 369, Amboy, Washington 98601.

Burrowing and foraging of semi‐fossorial rodents can affect species distribution and composition. Ground squirrels dig large burrow systems for refuge from predators and temperature extremes. Burrowing and foraging around burrows by squirrels may affect habitat and resource distributions for other organisms. We examined the impact of Cape ground squirrels (Xerus inauris) on vegetation, small mammals and beetles during winter and summer in grasslands on the edge of the Namib Desert. At each burrow system and paired control site without burrows, we estimated plant cover and height using quadrats (N = 8 paired sites), small mammal abundance and species richness using mark‐recapture techniques (N = 8 paired sites) and beetle abundance and species richness using pitfall traps (N = 6 paired sites, winter only). Squirrel burrowing and foraging activities resulted in lower plant cover and height, higher small mammal abundance and lower beetle abundance and species richness. Squirrels also reduced more plant cover in winter compared to summer, but had no effect on small mammal species richness. Furthermore, plant cover and height were higher in summer, whereas small mammal abundance and species richness were higher in winter. Our results suggest that Cape ground squirrels are important ecosystem engineers that influence plant and animal communities in the Namib Desert grasslands.

The mammal fauna of the Kammanassie Mountain State Forest Reserve and Mountain Catchment Area was censused in the high-rainfall southeastern sector and low-rainfall northwestern sector from 2-12 February, 1979. Collecting yielded 287 specimens of 17 species of small mammals, while the presence of a further 16 species of larger mammals was confirmed. Mean trapping success was low (2,0%) which reflects the low density of most species. Of the 10 species of small mammals collected in the southeastern sector Acomys subspinosus and Otomys irroratus were abundant, while Rhabdomys pumilio, Praomys verreauxi and Myosorex varius were common; the other five species collected were rare. In the northwestern sector the species composition and relative density of each differed. Here Aethomys namaquensis was abundant, R. pumilio common, and five other species (including A. subspinosus and O. irroratus) rare. Few carnivores occur. Stomach samples of collected specimens yielded information on feeding habits; species vary considerably in their diet. Twenty-four species of both large and small mammals occur in the southeastern part, and 25 in the northwestern sector; 17 species are common to both.

Ticks of nine small mammal species were studied in an area of endemic Lyme disease in Hailin County, Heilongjiang Province, from 1 May to 10 October 1986. The bulk (93%) total small mammal captures were Apodemus speciosus (45%), Clethrionomys rufocanus (31%), A. agrarius (11%) and Eutamias sibiricus; (5%): these host species accounted for 97% of the 162 ticks collected. Ixodes persulcatus Schulze were most abundant on E. sibiricus (0.64 larvae and 0.08 nymphs/squirrel), and less abundant on A. agrarius (1.16 larvae/mouse), A. speciosus (0.38 larvae/mouse) and C. rufocanus (0.37 larvae and nymphs/vole). The seasonal abundance pattern of larval I. persulcatus on four small mammal species appears as a bimodal peak (June and September), but nymphal I. persulcatus has a monomodal peak during spring. The prevalence of immature I. persulcatus on four small mammal species may play an important role in the epidemiology of Lyme disease in Hailin County.

Field windbreaks consist of trees, shrubs, or a combination of both planted adjacent to fields or farmsteads to reduce the force of wind. Kansas has about 4,900 ha of farmstead windbreaks and 118,000 ha of field windbreaks (Soil Conservation Service, 1994). Johnson and Beck (1988) reviewed the literature and identified references to 28 species of mammals using windbreaks with seven species classified as high dependence/high use. The purpose of this study was to determine which small mammal species use field windbreaks in central Kansas during winter. Twenty field windbreaks of variable size (0.28 ha-11.66 ha) were studied in Stafford and Pawnee counties, Kansas. The number of rows in the windbreaks ranged from 1 to 17, with a mean of 6.7 rows. The most frequently occurring tree species in the windbreaks were eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) occurring in 100% of the windbreaks, eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) (85%), Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila) (55%), honey locust, (Gleditsia triacanthos) (50%) and Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) (50%). Small mammal trapping was conducted during mid-February. Twenty-five trapping stations were set at 5-meter intervals along a transect that bisected each windbreak. Each station had one Sherman live trap (3 in x 3.5 in x 12 in) and one museum special snap trap (2.75 in x 5.5 in), baited with a mixture of peanut butter and oats. Trapping was conducted for three consecutive nights in each windbreak, resulting in 150 trap-nights per windbreak and a total of 3,000 trap-nights during the course of the sampling period. One hundred and forty-nine captures of six small mammal species were made in the 20 windbreaks. The species captured were white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), deer mouse (P. maniculatus), cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus), western harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys megalotis), Elliot's short-tailed shrew (Blarina hylophaga), and house mouse (Mus musculus). Eighteen of the 20 windbreaks (90%) contained at least one species of small mammal, and one windbreak contained five of the six species, lacking only the Elliot's short-tailed shrew. The average number of small mammal species per windbreak was 1.75. The white-footed mouse was the species most often captured (51.7% of total captures), followed by deer mouse (40.2%), western

We investigated species composition, relative abundance, habitat association and density of small mammals in Maze National Park, Ethiopia. Data were collected using the capture-mark-recapture technique in three representative habitat types (grassland, bushland and riverine forest) from November 2021 to August 2022. Descriptive statistics and indices for diversity and evenness were used to analyse the data. A total of 679 rodents and insectivores were collected during a span of 2 646 trap nights. Of these, 534 (76.64%) individuals were newly captured, while 145 (23.36%) were recaptures. Overall trap success was 20.18%. Five species of rodents were captured: four from the family Muridae (Mastomys natalensis, Arvicanthis niloticus, Rattus rattus and Lemniscomys macculus) and one (Xerus rutilus) from the family Sciuridae; and one insectivore species (Elephantulus rufescens) from the family Macroscelididae. Mastomys natalensis (178; 33.3%) was the most abundant, while X. rutilus (1; 0.2%) and E. rufescens (1; 0.2%) were the least abundant. Small mammal species varied significantly with habitat types (χ2 = 6.101, df = 2, p ≤ 0.05), with the highest count in the bushland habitat (197; 36.89 %) and the lowest in riverine forest (152; 28.46%). The bushland and riverine forest habitats supported the highest (H’ = 1.04) and the lowest (H’ = 0.506) diversity of small mammal species, respectively. A relatively high number of small mammal species were caught during the wet season (n = 336) compared to the dry season (n = 198). Future studies using more trapping grids covering additional habitat types and genetic analyses for small mammal species confirmation are necessary for a better understanding of the Park’s small mammal fauna.

SummaryCamera traps are a popular tool for monitoring wildlife though they can fail to capture enough morphological detail for accurate small mammal species identification. Camera trapping small mammals is often limited by the inability of camera models to: (i) record at close distances; and (ii) provide standardised photos. This study aims to provide a camera trapping method that captures standardised images of the faces of small mammals for accurate species identification, with further potential for individual identification. A novel camera trap design coined the ‘selfie trap’ was developed. The selfie trap is a camera contained within an enclosed PVC pipe with a modified lens that produces standardised close images of small mammal species encountered in this study, including: Brown Antechinus (Antechinus stuartii), Bush Rat (Rattus fuscipes) and Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps). Individual identification was tested on the common arboreal Sugar Glider. Five individual Sugar Gliders were identified based on unique head stripe pelage. The selfie trap is an accurate camera trapping method for capturing detailed and standardised images of small mammal species. The design described may be useful for wildlife management as a reliable method for surveying small mammal species. However, intraspecies individual identification using the selfie trap requires further testing.

The study examined diversity and density of small mammal species with different seasons and habitats in Federal University Gashua, Yobe State, North-East, Nigeria. The university environment was divided in to four (4) habitat types, namely; University residential area (URA), Acacia woodlot (AWL), Lake Area (LA) and Farm Land (LF) were used for the study. Small Mammal species survey was carried out for the period of six (6) months from August to October, 2022 (wet season) and January, to March, 2023 (dry season). Capture Mark–Recapture (CMR) and indirect observations methods were adopted; Survey was conducted using spring door traps of different sizes set at the habitat types during late evening hours 6:00 pm and checked in the morning hours from 6:00-8:30am for four (4) days per week with each habitat types being visited one day per week, making total of (96) man-days. Each habitat type was visited twice a day (morning and evening) which gave a total of (65;60) trapping night in both wet and dry seasons, the number decreased to 60 trapping night in the dry season was due to the wearing a way of vegetation cover. (32) Visits per habitat types and one (1) night survey per month. A total of ten (10) species of small mammals belonging to ten (10) families and seven (7) orders were recorded in the study. African Hedgehog Atelerix albiventris and White toothed shrew Crocidura flavescens were the most occurring species across The findings of the study shows that the overall diversity index was (1.692), where Four-toed hedgehog Atelerix albiventris had the highest species diversity90.363) and estimated population density of (64.44) followed by Giant pouched rat Cricetomys gambianus with (0.277; 0.018) respectively, Cape hare Lepus capensis and Mongoose Herpestes ichneumon who’s having the lowest diversity of (0.017) with (0. 564) density each in the study area. The month of February has higher number of captured percentage with (24%) in dry season, followed by October with (19%) in the wet season, the lowest capture percentage occurred with August (14%) in the wet season. University Residential Area had more number of individual species having (37.82 %), while Farm land had the least captured percentage of(16.85%).The trap success in both wet season and dry season’s period were (33.04%; 21.67%)respectively. Habitat alteration and destruction due to ongoing constructions project, mainly for university deployment might have accounted for small mammal species low diversity and density in Federal University Gashua.