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Effects of urban habitat fragmentation on common small mammals: species versus communities

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Abstract

There is an increasing interest in understanding how species respond to the modifications of habitat attributes in urban areas. Patterns in the occurrence and abundance of small mammal communities in 15 isolated patches of remnant natural and semi-natural habitat of Porto Metropolitan Area (Portugal) were assessed against environmental characteristics (from both the patch and the surrounding matrix) of each patch using multiple regressions and canonical correspondence analysis. Four species of common small mammals were found: wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), greater white-toothed shrew (Crocidura russula), Algerian mouse (Mus spretus) and house mouse (Mus musculus). Our results showed that both relative abundance and species richness were negatively affected by urbanization. The species richness also displayed a negative association with the increase of forest around the patch but relative abundance showed the opposite trend. At the species level, the relative abundance of A. sylvaticus and C. russula showed a negative association with urbanization. Our results reveal that these two species also benefit from a mosaic of habitats and pervious areas in the surrounding matrix. The relative abundance of M. spretus and M. musculus showed a negative effect of forest area around the patch. Understanding how the increase of urbanization affects small mammals will be particularly useful for the managers of urban landscapes, as these animals occupy a pivotal position in the ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

Small mammals were captured under an appropriate license from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Biodiversity ICNB, Portugal (Licence no. 310/2009/CAPT). R. Ribeiro was supported by a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/31046/2006) from the Foundation for Science and Technology Portugal (FCT). We would like to thank António Mira for the comments and suggestions, David James Harris for the english correction. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for comments on the first draft of the manuscript. We are also grateful to all those who assisted with field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, CIBIO-UP, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal

    Verónica Gomes, Raquel Ribeiro & Miguel A. Carretero

  2. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, 4099-002, Porto, Portugal

    Verónica Gomes

  3. Departament de Biologia Animal, Facultat Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Raquel Ribeiro

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  1. Verónica Gomes
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  2. Raquel Ribeiro
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Correspondence to Verónica Gomes.

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Gomes, V., Ribeiro, R. & Carretero, M.A. Effects of urban habitat fragmentation on common small mammals: species versus communities. Biodivers Conserv 20, 3577–3590 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0149-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0149-2

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