Faunistics and ecological peculiarities of small mammal communities from “plaiul fagului” reserve, republic of Moldova

About the authors:

Victoria B. Nistreanu,
Alina F. Larion,
Victoria I. Burlacu,
Natalia K. Caraman,
Vlad E. Postolachi,

Abstract:

The studies were performed in Plaiul Fagului reserve from the central part of the Republic of Moldova during 2011-2014 years. During the study 26 species of small mammals (7 insectivore and 19 rodent species) were registered in the reserve. In all the years the dominant species was A. agrarius with more than 33% of all small mammals, while among shrews the most abundant was S. araneus. The values of Shannon diversity index in spring period were comprised between 0.3 and 0.85 and in autumn between 0.6 and 1.1, the lowest being registered in forest ecosystems and the highest in wet biotopes. A general increasing of diversity indexes in most of biotopes from the beginning of study period to the last year was established. The highest similarity was registered between cultivated land situated near the forest and edge of acacia plantation, as well as between shores of water basins and wet valleys. The rarefaction analysis indicates that a fraction of species diversity was not yet discovered. The monitoring of small mammal fauna will continue.

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