Uncropped habitats under power pylons are overlooked refuges for small mammals in agricultural landscapes

Abstract

Agricultural intensification has led to landscape simplification partially due to massive reduction in the area of biodiversity-rich non-cropped habitats. Power lines and their associated infrastructure occurring in homogeneous farmland have recently been suggested to provide suitable habitat resources for some animals. This is the first study to investigate the importance of high-voltage power pylons in providing habitats of uncropped patches for small mammal communities in the agricultural landscape. We found that the abundance and species richness of small mammals during the winter was significantly higher in uncropped habitat patches under power pylons compared to the surrounding farmland. We suggest that power line infrastructure in the agricultural landscape may represent a crucial, though overlooked, refuge for small mammals by providing them with persistent habitat for wintering and spring dispersal.