A comparison of ground-dwelling small mammal communities in primary and secondary tropical rainforests in China

• Published in: Journal of Tropical Ecology
• Main Authors: Wu, De-Lin, Luo, Jia, Fox, Barry J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1996
• Subjects: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0266467400009421; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0266467400009421

ABSTRACT Trapping was conducted in primary and secondary forests to investigate the effects of past logging on small mammal communities. Thirteen I-ha sites were snap-trapped for three consecutive days in tropical monsoon rainforest in Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve, southern China. A total of 3900 trap-days yielded 198 captures, of which 118 were in the primary forest and 80 in the secondary forest. A total of 12 ground-dwelling species (eight Rodentia, Muridae; three Insectivora, Soricidae; one Insectivora, Erinaceidae) were caught, five (all Rodentia, Muridae) occurred in the primary forest and 11 in the secondary forest. The most abundant species was Niviventer confucianus , accounting for 62% and 39% of the total captures in the primary and the secondary forests, respectively. In the secondary forest the mean abundances of the two dominant species, N. confucianus and Maxomys surifer , were reduced, and a non-commensal form of Rattus rattus disappeared, but N. fulvescens showed no change while Mus pahari increased. The seven species which occurred only in secondary forest had very low abundance. Overall, the multivariate Mantel test showed the two communities to be significantly different. After logging, species diversity increased, and the two dominant species had increased body mass and their mean abundance decreased.