The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India
Small mammals were sampled in two natural habitats (montane stunted evergreen forests and montane grassland) and four anthropogenic habitats (tea, wattle, bluegum and pine plantation) in the Upper Nilgiris in southern India. Of the species trapped, eight were in montane evergreen forests and three w...
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ftiiscindia:oai:eprints.iisc.ernet.in:39866 2023-05-15T18:04:55+02:00 The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India Shanker, Kartik 2001 application/pdf http://eprints.iisc.ernet.in/39866/ http://eprints.iisc.ernet.in/39866/1/The_role_of_competition.pdf http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=63575&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0952836901000024 unknown Cambridge University Press http://eprints.iisc.ernet.in/39866/1/The_role_of_competition.pdf Shanker, Kartik (2001) The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India. In: Journal of Zoology, 253 (1). pp. 15-24. Centre for Ecological Sciences Journal Article PeerReviewed 2001 ftiiscindia 2014-09-27T18:12:28Z Small mammals were sampled in two natural habitats (montane stunted evergreen forests and montane grassland) and four anthropogenic habitats (tea, wattle, bluegum and pine plantation) in the Upper Nilgiris in southern India. Of the species trapped, eight were in montane evergreen forests and three were in other habitats. Habitat discrimination was studied in the rodents Rattus rattus and Mus famulus and the shrew Suncus montanus in the montane forest habitat. Multivariate tests on five variables (canopy cover, midstorey density, ground cover, tree density, canopy height) showed that R. rattus uses areas of higher tree density and lower canopy cover. Suncus montanus and M. famulus use habitat with higher tree density and ground cover and lower canopy height. Multivariate tests did not discriminate habitat use between the species. Univariate tests, however, showed that M. famulus uses areas of higher tree density than R. rattus and S. montanus. Rattus rattus was the dominant species in the montane forest, comprising 60.9% of total density, while the rodent Millardia meltada was the dominant species in the grassland. Studies of spatial interaction between these two species in habitats where they coexisted showed neither overlap nor avoidance between the species. Rattus rattus, however, did use areas of lower ground cover than did M. meltada. The analysis of spatial interactions between the species, habitat discrimination and use, and the removal experiments suggest that interspecific competition may not be a strong force in structuring these small mammal communities. There are distinct patterns in the use of different habitats by some species, but microhabitat selection and segregation is weak. Other factors such as intraspecific competition may play a more important role in these communities. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore: ePrints@IIsc |
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Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore: ePrints@IIsc |
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Centre for Ecological Sciences |
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Centre for Ecological Sciences Shanker, Kartik The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India |
topic_facet |
Centre for Ecological Sciences |
description |
Small mammals were sampled in two natural habitats (montane stunted evergreen forests and montane grassland) and four anthropogenic habitats (tea, wattle, bluegum and pine plantation) in the Upper Nilgiris in southern India. Of the species trapped, eight were in montane evergreen forests and three were in other habitats. Habitat discrimination was studied in the rodents Rattus rattus and Mus famulus and the shrew Suncus montanus in the montane forest habitat. Multivariate tests on five variables (canopy cover, midstorey density, ground cover, tree density, canopy height) showed that R. rattus uses areas of higher tree density and lower canopy cover. Suncus montanus and M. famulus use habitat with higher tree density and ground cover and lower canopy height. Multivariate tests did not discriminate habitat use between the species. Univariate tests, however, showed that M. famulus uses areas of higher tree density than R. rattus and S. montanus. Rattus rattus was the dominant species in the montane forest, comprising 60.9% of total density, while the rodent Millardia meltada was the dominant species in the grassland. Studies of spatial interaction between these two species in habitats where they coexisted showed neither overlap nor avoidance between the species. Rattus rattus, however, did use areas of lower ground cover than did M. meltada. The analysis of spatial interactions between the species, habitat discrimination and use, and the removal experiments suggest that interspecific competition may not be a strong force in structuring these small mammal communities. There are distinct patterns in the use of different habitats by some species, but microhabitat selection and segregation is weak. Other factors such as intraspecific competition may play a more important role in these communities. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shanker, Kartik |
author_facet |
Shanker, Kartik |
author_sort |
Shanker, Kartik |
title |
The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India |
title_short |
The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India |
title_full |
The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India |
title_fullStr |
The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India |
title_full_unstemmed |
The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India |
title_sort |
role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern india |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://eprints.iisc.ernet.in/39866/ http://eprints.iisc.ernet.in/39866/1/The_role_of_competition.pdf http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=63575&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0952836901000024 |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_relation |
http://eprints.iisc.ernet.in/39866/1/The_role_of_competition.pdf Shanker, Kartik (2001) The role of competition and habitat in structuring small mammal communities in a tropical montane ecosystem in southern India. In: Journal of Zoology, 253 (1). pp. 15-24. |
_version_ |
1766176330773168128 |