Vegetation cover and spatial distribution of small mammals in the conditions of woodland large city park (Nizhny Novgorod)

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the study of ecological connectivity vegetation cover and microtine rodents spatial distribution in the conditions of the Nizhny Novgorod woodland park. The oak forest of National Research Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod Botanical Garden with partial anthropogenic transformation was chosen as a site of the study. We used five various plant communities represented by linden trees. The dominant in all ecosystems on the test areas is the red vole (73%), the codominant is the pygmy wood mouse (21%). The yellow-necked mouse has been observed only in several communities. It has been revealed that a decrease in the biodiversity of plant communities due to an increase in the degree of individual species dominance marked by BergerParker index doesnt entail significant negative consequences for small mammals. It is possible that the dominants in vegetation cover create a favorable microclimate for small mammals. The PCA analysis shows the presence of two significant factors for the distribution of microtine rodents. The first factor is associated with the balance of humidity and illumination, the second with nitrogen availability in combination with low illumination. The ecological divergence of niches in two species of mice (pygmy wood mouse and yellow-necked mouse) was observed. In relation to the projective cover, the bank vole occurs both at very high (90%) and low (30%) values, which confirms the ecological plasticity of that species. For yellow-necked and pygmy wood mice, the optimal values of projective cover in studied communities range from 70 to 90%. However, yellow-necked mice can also live in plant communities with a plant cover index about 4050%.