Abstract
Compared to Northern Carpathians, the small mammal fauna of Southern Carpathian forests is poorly known, with no data on habitat use; our study seeks to fill this gap. To this end, we conducted a survey in the Southern Carpathians for five years, assessing habitat use by small mammals in forests along an elevational gradient. Trapping was done using live traps set in transects at elevations between 820 and 2040 m. For each transect we evaluated variables related to vegetation structure, habitat complexity, and geographical location. We considered abundance, species composition and species richness as response variables. The rodents Apodemus flavicollis and Myodes glareolus and the shrew Sorex araneus were common and dominant. Their abundance were positively correlated with tree cover, the best explanatory variable. Responses to other variables were mixed. The strong divergence in the relative habitat use by the three most abundant species may act as a mechanism that enables their coexistence as dominant species, exploiting the same wide range of habitat resources. Overall, habitat use in our study area was similar to that reported from Northern Carpathians, but we found also important differences probably caused by the differences in latitude and forest management practices.
Highlights
Compared to Northern Carpathians, the small mammal fauna of Southern Carpathian forests is poorly known, with no data on habitat use; our study seeks to fill this gap
The Southern Carpathian Mountains, which comprise about one-third of Romania, are heavily forested, with beech (51.8%) and spruce (33.6%) being the dominant species[1]
Compared to a similar study conducted in the Eastern Tatra M ountains[31], the species richness (12 species captured) was lower in our survey; part of the reason could be that the North Carpathian endemic Microtus tatricus and the boreal species Sicista betulina are absent in our study area, which is beyond the limits of their geographical distribution
Summary
Compared to Northern Carpathians, the small mammal fauna of Southern Carpathian forests is poorly known, with no data on habitat use; our study seeks to fill this gap. The rodents Apodemus flavicollis and Myodes glareolus and the shrew Sorex araneus were common and dominant Their abundance were positively correlated with tree cover, the best explanatory variable. Small mammals are key components of these forest ecosystems, where they have multiple functions, such as acting as seed and fungus dispersers[2,3,4] and soil a erators[5] Meantime, they exercise direct and indirect top-down and bottom-up control on the distribution, abundance, and population dynamics of other animal t axa[6,7] by being important predators of insects and other invertebrates[8] and food resources for many vertebrate predators. We use data from a survey of small mammal communities along elevational gradients in forests with various habitat characteristics at 26 trapping sites in the Southern Carpathian Mountains in protected and unprotected areas
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