Taxonomic and ecological composition of forest stands inhabited by forest dormouse Dryomys nitedula (Rodentia: Gliridae)
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Taxonomic and ecological composition of forest stands inhabited by forest dormouse Dryomys nitedula (Rodentia: Gliridae) in the Middle Volga Tatyana Silaeva 1 & Alexey Andreychev 1
&
Olga Kiyaykina 1 & Linas Balčiauskas 2
Received: 5 June 2020 / Accepted: 9 November 2020 # Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2020
Abstract Populations of the forest dormouse (Dryomys nitedula Pallas, 1778) are widespread across Europe and south-western Asia, but their ability to survive in a mosaic of forest stands is insufficient, and they are extremely scarce in Russia. In 2013–2019, we studied the taxonomic and ecological composition of forest stands in the Middle Volga. Forest dormice were recorded in 30% of the investigated forest stands, being 4–70 ha in size. Habitats of the forest dormouse were characterized by higher species richness of woody plants, by presence of woody plant species with juicy fruits, dry fruits and seeds, and by dominance of shrubs (52.1% of all plant species). Out of 98 species of gymnosperms and angiosperms, species belonging to families Rosaceae and Salicaceae dominated. Out of the 98 registered plants, 43 species formed juicy and 55 species formed dry fruits and seeds, including Quercus robur L., Corylus avellana L., Tilia cordata Mill. Alien plant species (26.4%) had no impact on the habitat attractivity. Favorable conditions for existence the forest dormouse in the Middle Volga are secured by high diversity of woody plants in the forest stands, providing these animals with plant-based food. Usage of only optimal habitats resulted in patchy distribution of the species. Keywords Forest dormouse . Mosaic habitat . Forest stand . Middle volga
Introduction Forest dwelling animal species prone to local extinctions are likely to be influenced by a decrease or fragmentation of the forest area (de Castro and Fernandez 2004). With regard to rodents, in Europe this is for example the case of the hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius (Linnaeus, 1758) (Bright 1993; Bright et al. 1994; Capizzi et al. 2002) and of the edible dormouse Glis glis (Linnaeus, 1766) (Amori et al. 1995; Capizzi et al. 2003). However, knowledge about the forest dormouse Dryomys nitedula (Pallas, 1778), a hibernating arboreal rodent living in forested areas, is limited
* Alexey Andreychev [email protected] Linas Balčiauskas [email protected] 1
National Research Mordovia State University, Bolshevistskaya Street, 68, Saransk, Russia
2
Nature Research Centre, Academijos 2, Vilnius, Lithuania
(Juškaitis 2015). Although populations of this species are largely widespread across Europe and south-western Asia (Kryštufek and Vohralik 1994; Rossolimo et al. 2001; Batsaikhan et al. 2008; Juškaitis et al. 2015), their ability to survive in a mosaic of suitable wood patches and the effects of woodland management are known insufficiently (Paolucci et al. 1989; Amori et al. 2008; Bisconti et al. 2018). Forest dormice are mostly nocturnal (Bisconti et al. 2018). Most of them are forest inhabitants, pre
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