Abstract
A 17-year-long trapping study was carried out at a mountainous locality of central Italy (Majella National Park) in order to study the community structure of some infrequently caught small mammal species along the habitat niche axis. Null model analyses (with two competing randomization algorithms, RA2 and RA3) and Monte Carlo simulations were performed. The small mammal community was non-randomly structured according to RA2 with both Pianka and Czechanowski formulas, whereas it was random according to RA3 with both formulas. It is suggested that the observed pattern reflects mainly habitat checkerboards, with species being associated with different biotic and abiotic features of the sites which leads to less niche overlap than expected by chance.
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Acknowledgments
We thank many students of the University of Rome ‘la Sapienza’ who contributed to collect data in the field over the years, and the Majella National Park and Dr. Teodoro Andrisano in particular, for having allowed us to carry out this long-term study into their territory, and also partially funded the research. We are also indebted with ‘Corpo Forestale dello Stato’ (Caramanico), for having provided infrastructures used during the execution of the present study.
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Amori, G., Locasciulli, O. & Luiselli, L. Non-random distribution across habitat types in sympatric, hardly catchable small mammals at a mountainous site in central Italy. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 22, 17–23 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-010-0108-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-010-0108-y