Small mammals of background areas in the vicinity of the Karabash copper smelter (Southern Urals, Russia)

The dataset contains records of small mammals (Eulipotyphla and Rodentia) collected in the background (unpolluted) areas in the vicinity of Karabash copper smelter (Southern Urals, Russia) and the territory of the Sultanovskoye deposit of copper-pyrite ores before the start of its development. Data were collected during the snowless periods in 2007 (18 sampling plots), 2008–2010 (13 plots annually), 2011 (30 plots) and 2012–2014 (19 plots annually). The capture of animals was carried out in different types of forests (pine, birch, mixed and floodplain), sparse birch stands, reed swamps, marshy and dry meadows, border areas, a household waste dump, areas of ruderal vegetation and a temporary camp. Our study of small mammals was conducted using trap lines (snap and live traps). During the study period, 709 specimens of small mammals were caught, which belonged to five species of shrews and 13 species of rodents. The dataset may be highly useful for studying regional fauna and the distribution of species in different habitats and could also be used as reference values for environmental monitoring and conservation activities. Our dataset contains new information on occurrences of small mammals. It includes the peculiarities of their habitat distribution in the background areas in the vicinity of the large copper smelter and the deposit of copper-pyrite ores before the start of its development (Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia). All occurrence records of 18 mammal species with georeferencing have been published in GBIF.

Effects of Long-Term Habitat Protection on Montane Small Mammals: Are Sorex araneus and S. minutus More Sensitive Than Previously Considered?

Protection of natural areas by restricting human activities aims to preserve plant and animal populations and whole communities, ensuring the conservation of biological diversity and enhancement of ecosystem services. Therefore, it is expected that the longer the protection, the stronger the desired effects. We evaluated the responses of small mammals at the population and community levels under protection in the southern Carpathian Mountains. We surveyed small mammals for five years in sites with long- and short-term protection and non-protected. Besides protection status, we included elevation, habitat heterogeneity, and the month of survey as predictors in our models. As response variables, we considered abundance, presence, species composition and species richness. Community abundance responded to all four predictors and species composition was influenced by protection status and month of study. The shrews Sorex araneus and S. minutus had positive responses to protection, both in terms of abundance and relative abundance (their ratio within the community). Our results suggest that overall, montane small mammal communities respond positively to long-term protection, especially S. araneus and S. minutus. These shrew species are considered habitat generalists, but they appear to be in fact sensitive to the habitat quality enhanced through protection.

Integrated Tick Management in the Upper Midwest: Impact of Invasive Vegetation Removal and Host-targeted Acaricides on Ixodes scapularis Infestation and Borrelia burgdorferi Prevalence of Small Mammals

Integration of tick management strategies has been suggested to overcome ecological variation in tick, host, pathogen, and habitat, yet empirical evidence assessing combined treatment effect on blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis Say, is limited. In this 5-year study (2014-2018) we tested whether combining two methods targeting tick/mammal interactions could reduce juvenile I. scapularis parasitism of two small mammal species, Peromyscus leucopus Rafinesque and Tamias striatus Linnaeus. Infection of small mammals with Borrelia burgdorferi was used to evaluate host exposure to feeding ticks. Using a factorial design, removal of invasive vegetation (Amur honeysuckle, Lonicera maackii Ruprecht and common buckthorn, Rhamnus cathartica Linnaeus) was coupled with deployments of permethrin-treated cotton nesting materials (tick tubes) and evaluated against control sites. Removal of invasive vegetation resulted in lower captures of T. striatus suggesting that treatment impacted reservoir activity in the plots. Deployments of permethrin-treated cotton were effective at reducing the frequency of juvenile I. scapularis parasitism of P. leucopus by 91% across the study compared to controls. However, tick tubes did not offer consistent protection against mouse exposure to B. burgdorferi exposure. An additive negative effect was detected for juvenile tick intensity on P. leucopus when tick tubes were combined with invasive vegetation removal. We conclude that integration of these two methods provides very limited benefit and that permethrin treatment alone offers the best option for reducing I. scapularis infestation on P. leucopus.

Small mammals in the diet of Barn Owls (Tyto furcata) in an urban area in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, with a new record of the dwarf mouse opossum (Cryptonanus)

Several studies emphasize the use of owl pellets in small mammal inventories in natural areas harboring high richness of rare species, but few Brazilian Atlantic forest localities have been surveyed by this method. The present study documents the species composition and abundance of small mammals in the diet of Tyto furcata in an urban area of the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, remarking on a new record of the dwarf mouse opossum genus Cryptonanus in the Atlantic forest. We analyzed 265 pellets regurgitated by a pair of T. furcata from November 2016 to September 2017 found in a nesting box. Analysis of the samples enabled finding a total of 596 individuals of four small mammal species. Mus musculus was predominant among the prey items (98.3%), while the native rodents Necromys lasiurus (1.3%) and Holochilus brasiliensis (0,17%) were much rarer. A single specimen of Cryptonanus sp. was identified among the diet items based on distinctive dental characters. The identification of this genus in the present study represents the second record in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and the sixth in the Atlantic Forest biome, suggesting that this marsupial occupies a wider ecological and biogeographic range. The present study underscores the relevance of owl pellets for small mammal surveys, even in urban and highly disturbed areas.