Small mammals of Maulino forest remnants, a vanishing ecosystem of south-central Chile

The Maulino forest, located at the coastal range of south central Chile, has been severely disrupted by intense human activities. Currently, landscape is dominated by large extensions of plantations of Monterrey pine, where remnants of native forest are immersed. Here, we assess consequences of Maul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mammalia
Main Authors: Saavedra, Bárbara, Simonetti Zambelli, Javier Andrés
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/mamm.2005.027
https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/154521
Description
Summary:The Maulino forest, located at the coastal range of south central Chile, has been severely disrupted by intense human activities. Currently, landscape is dominated by large extensions of plantations of Monterrey pine, where remnants of native forest are immersed. Here, we assess consequences of Maulino forest fragmentation and habitat replacement upon small mammal fauna. We describe habitat characteristics, small mammal's composition and abundance in native forests (fragmented and continuous), but also in Pinus plantation. Population and body condition were compared among habitats, along with movement among native and Pinus forests. Higher species richness was found in continuous forest comprising Abrothrix longipilis, A. olivaceus, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, Irenomys tarsalis, Geoxus valdivianus, Rattus rattus, Octodon bridgesi, Thylamys elegans, and Dromiciops gliroides. Higher abundance was observed in fragmented forest and Pinus plantations, where A. longipilis, A. olivaceus, O. l