IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v13y2024i8p1214-d1450988.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Habitat and Body Condition of Small Mammals in a Country at Mid-Latitude

Author

Listed:
  • Linas Balčiauskas

    (Nature Research Centre, Akademijos 2, 08412 Vilnius, Lithuania)

  • Laima Balčiauskienė

    (Nature Research Centre, Akademijos 2, 08412 Vilnius, Lithuania)

Abstract

The relationship between the body condition of different small mammal species and the habitat they occupy is poorly analyzed. We analyzed the body condition index, BCI, of 18 small mammal species trapped in forest, shrub, wetland, meadow, riparian, mixed and fragmented, disturbed, agricultural, and commensal habitats of Lithuania during the span of 1980–2023. The composition of small mammal communities was habitat-dependent, being richest in meadows, with eighteen species, and poorest in riparian habitats, with nine species. A significant variation in the BCI with respect to habitat was observed in eight small mammal species ( Sorex araneus , S. minutus , Apodemus agrarius , A. flavicollis , Clethrionomys glareolus , Alexandromys oeconomus , Microtus agrestis , and M. arvalis ). The highest average BCI for most of these species was found in disturbed habitats, with S. minutus and M. arvalis showing the highest BCI in agricultural habitats. The lowest average BCI for most species was found in mixed habitats, while C. glareolus and M. arvalis exhibited the lowest BCI in shrub habitats. In general, species dominating certain habitats did not have the highest BCI. This is the first multi-species, multi-habitat study of body condition in small mammals at mid-latitudes.

Suggested Citation

  • Linas Balčiauskas & Laima Balčiauskienė, 2024. "Habitat and Body Condition of Small Mammals in a Country at Mid-Latitude," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-16, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:8:p:1214-:d:1450988
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/8/1214/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/8/1214/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:8:p:1214-:d:1450988. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.