Abundance and diversity of small mammals in Swedish beaver systems
Through their ecosystem engineering activities, beavers (Castor fiber ) create ponds and riparian zones littered with deadwood, providing hetero- geneous micro-habitats for a variety of small mammal species. In this study small mammals were snap-trapped in nine beaver systems and four reference wetl...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | H1 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés alemán |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment
2015
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855571372358500352 |
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| author | Glabischnig, Felicitas |
| author_browse | Glabischnig, Felicitas |
| author_facet | Glabischnig, Felicitas |
| author_sort | Glabischnig, Felicitas |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Through their ecosystem engineering activities, beavers (Castor fiber ) create ponds and riparian zones littered with deadwood, providing hetero- geneous micro-habitats for a variety of small mammal species. In this study small mammals were snap-trapped in nine beaver systems and four reference wetland systems that were not created by beavers in southern and central Sweden to compare abundance and diversity of voles, shrews and mice. In addition, structural habitat factors were recorded at the study sites. Beaver sites had high amounts of coarse and fine woody debris and standing dead- wood. A principal component analysis of the structural habitat factors showed that over a third of the variation in the data can be explained by the degree of influence that C. fiber has on the system. Abundance and true diversity (expH’ ) of small mammals were positively correlated with the amount of deadwood in the systems. Bank voles (Myodes glareolus ) were shown to have no preference for either beaver or non-beaver wetlands, but subadult bank voles had higher mean weights in newly colonized beaver systems with extensive grass layers than in recolonized systems. It has been concluded that beavers are indeed creating habitat conditions that are favourable for small mammal diversity and abundance, especially as far as shrews and mice are concerned. |
| format | H1 |
| id | RepoSLU8560 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés ger |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU85602015-10-23T09:39:25Z Abundance and diversity of small mammals in Swedish beaver systems Glabischnig, Felicitas small mammals beaver Castor fiber habitat heterogeneity ecosystem engineer biodiversity bank vole Myodes glareolus wetlands Through their ecosystem engineering activities, beavers (Castor fiber ) create ponds and riparian zones littered with deadwood, providing hetero- geneous micro-habitats for a variety of small mammal species. In this study small mammals were snap-trapped in nine beaver systems and four reference wetland systems that were not created by beavers in southern and central Sweden to compare abundance and diversity of voles, shrews and mice. In addition, structural habitat factors were recorded at the study sites. Beaver sites had high amounts of coarse and fine woody debris and standing dead- wood. A principal component analysis of the structural habitat factors showed that over a third of the variation in the data can be explained by the degree of influence that C. fiber has on the system. Abundance and true diversity (expH’ ) of small mammals were positively correlated with the amount of deadwood in the systems. Bank voles (Myodes glareolus ) were shown to have no preference for either beaver or non-beaver wetlands, but subadult bank voles had higher mean weights in newly colonized beaver systems with extensive grass layers than in recolonized systems. It has been concluded that beavers are indeed creating habitat conditions that are favourable for small mammal diversity and abundance, especially as far as shrews and mice are concerned. In seiner Funktion als Ökosystemgestalter bewirkt der Biber (Castor fiber) die Entstehung von totholzreichen Teichen und Uferzonen, und schafft dadurch heterogene Mikrohabitate für eine Vielzahl von Kleinsäugerarten. Für diese Arbeit wurden in Süd- und Mittelschweden in neun Biberhabitaten und vier Referenzfeuchtgebieten die nicht von Bibern geschaffen wurden Kleinsäuger gefangen, und die Biodiversität und Abundanz von Kleinsäugern in den beiden Habitattypen verglichen. Zusätzlich wurden in den untersuchten Systemen strukturelle Habitatfaktoren aufgenommen. Bibersysteme wiesen hohe Anteile an liegendem und stehendem Totholz auf. Eine Hauptkomponentenanalyse der strukturellen Habitatfaktoren zeigte, dass über ein Drittel der Varianz in den Daten durch den Grad des Einflußes von Bibern auf das System erklärt werden können. Abundanz und echte Diversität (expH’) von Kleinsäugern korrelierten positiv mit der Totholzmenge im System. Rötelmäuse schienen weder Biberhabitate noch Referenzhabitate zu präferieren, Jungtiere in neukolonisierten Bibersystemen mit ausgeprägter Grasschicht wiesen jedoch durchschnittlich ein höheres Körpergewicht auf, als in wiederbesiedelten Gebieten. Daraus kann geschlossen werden, dass Biber in der Tat Lebensraumbedingungen schaffen, die sich positiv auf die Abundanz und Diversität von Kleinsäugern, insbesondere von Spitzmäusen und Echten Mäusen, auswirken. SLU/Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment 2015 H1 eng ger https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/8560/ |
| spellingShingle | small mammals beaver Castor fiber habitat heterogeneity ecosystem engineer biodiversity bank vole Myodes glareolus wetlands Glabischnig, Felicitas Abundance and diversity of small mammals in Swedish beaver systems |
| title | Abundance and diversity of small mammals in Swedish beaver systems |
| title_full | Abundance and diversity of small mammals in Swedish beaver systems |
| title_fullStr | Abundance and diversity of small mammals in Swedish beaver systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Abundance and diversity of small mammals in Swedish beaver systems |
| title_short | Abundance and diversity of small mammals in Swedish beaver systems |
| title_sort | abundance and diversity of small mammals in swedish beaver systems |
| topic | small mammals beaver Castor fiber habitat heterogeneity ecosystem engineer biodiversity bank vole Myodes glareolus wetlands |