Comparison of populations of small mammals in a climax spruce forest and in an acidophilic beech forest in Kľačianska Magura NNR (Malá Fatra NP)
Abstract
Paper analyses habitat preferences of small mammals (A. flavicollis and M. glareolus) on the level of age group in two types of climax forest. In general, it compares the fitness extent of populations of small mammals species in individual habitats and analyzes fitness of individual age brackets, their mutual interactions as well as interactions with the environment. Aim of this work was to provide an overwiev about population density and its annual change, pattern of distribution in space. Small mammals were captured by the quantitative quadrate method. We determined their main ecological characteristics, which depend on their population density. Competition pressure was growing during the gradation cycle and individual species were expelling lower age groups to the peripheries of generally prefered areas. In season 2008, we have discovered inverse changes in weight and number of both species in both habitats.
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