- 期刊
Seasonal, Sexual, and Age-Related Variations in the Live-Trapping Success of Woodland Dormice Graphiurus murinus
並列摘要
Live trapping often constitutes the simplest field technique to obtain biological information on small, nocturnal mammals. However, to be reliable, live-trapping studies require efficient traps that allow the capturing of all functional categories of the targeted population. Herein, we present the results of a live-trapping study of the woodland dormouse Graphiurus murinus (Gliridae), a species for which limited scientific data are available. Our aim was to evaluate the efficiency of small-mammal traps (Sherman and PVC), and investigate potential seasonal-, sexual-, age-, and microhabitat-related differences in trapping success. We conducted 12 trapping sessions and deployed 2051 trapping units between Feb. 2006 and Mar. 2007, in a riverine forest of the Great Fish River Reserve, South Africa. Only arboreal trapping with Sherman traps proved to be successful. No dormouse was ever caught on the ground with PVC traps, either inside or outside the riverine forest. We made 234 captures of 48 different dormice: 9 adult males, 17 adult females, 3 unsexed adults, and 19 juveniles. Overall, 64% of the dormice known to occur in the area during the study period were caught with Sherman traps. Individual dormice were caught on average 4.9 (range, 1-17) times. Trapping success averaged 13.3% (range, 3.0%-33.3%). It was lowest during winter (5.1%) and peaked in summer (19.0%) and autumn (16.7%). More adult males were caught in spring during the mating season, whereas more adult females were trapped in summer during the lactating period. The trapping success of juveniles peaked in summer and autumn, when they were progressively becoming independent and were probably exploring large areas in and possibly outside of the maternal home range. We conclude that arboreal live-trapping with Sherman traps would constitute an effective technique to study the population dynamics and spatial distribution of the woodland dormouse, but suggest that a nest box monitoring program (preferably running concurrently) would provide useful complementary information.