Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2021 | 13(2): 17619–17629
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5710.13.2.17619-17629
#5710 | Received 20 January 2020 | Final
received 07 August 2020 | Finally accepted 09 February 2021
Small mammals in the
human-dominated landscape in the northern Western Ghats of India
Sameer Bajaru 1, Amol
R. Kulavmode 2 & Ranjit
Manakadan 3
1 Natural History Collection
Department, Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, S.B.S. Road, Fort,
Mumbai,
Maharashtra 400001, India.
2,3 Bombay Natural History Society,
Hornbill House, S.B.S. Road, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001, India.
1 s.bajaru@bnhs.org (corresponding
author), 2 a.kulavmode@bnhs.org, 3 r.manakadan@bnhs.org
Editor:
Anonymity requested. Date of
publication: 26 February 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Bajaru, S.B., A.R. Kulavmode & R. Manakadan (2021).
Small mammals in the
human-dominated landscape in the northern Western Ghats of India. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 13(2): 17619–17629. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5710.13.2.17619-17629
Copyright:
© Bajaru 2021.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction,
and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to
the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment
(ATREE) Western Ghats Small Grants Program, India
(CEPF–ATREE–WGhats/SGP/WGSG159_BNHS_Kondana); People’s Trust for Endangered
Species (PTES), UK.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Sameer Bajaru is currently working as Assistant
Curator in the Natural History Collection Department of BNHS, Mumbai, India. He
is interested in quantitative ecology, conservation biology, and
mammalogy. Amol R. Kulavmode is
currently working as a Scientist in BNHS on the human-wildlife conflict project
in central Indian landscape, Maharashtra. His research focuses is on global
change biology and conservation ecology.
Ranjit Manakadan is currently working as Deputy Director (Ornithology) in
BNHS. He headed 14 projects as Principal Investigator included Indian Bustard,
grassland birds, waterbirds, forest birds, Spot-billed Pelican, fish, Indian
Fox, Asian Elephant, faunal inventory surveys, and bird hazard to aircraft
studies. He is on the editorial board of the JBNHS and HORNBILL.
Author contribution: SB—study design, data collection, data analysis, and
manuscript writing, revision, and proofreading. ARK—assistance in field data
collection and proofreading.
RM—manuscript revision and proofreading.
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Critical Ecosystem
Partnership Fund (CEPF) – Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment
(ATREE) Western Ghats Small Grants Program, India
(CEPF–ATREE–WGhats/SGP/WGSG159_BNHS_Kondana) and People’s Trust for Endangered
Species (PTES), UK. We are grateful to
the Maharashtra Forest Department for their assistance. We thank Dr. Deepak Apte, Former Director and
Rahul Khot, Curator of BNHS for their support and encouragement throughout this
study. We are grateful to the Natural
History Collection Department (BNHS) non-research staff: Vithoba Hegde, Vinod
Patil, Shyam Jadhav, and Parshuram Parvate for their assistance. We also thank Ganesh Mane, Amol Lokhande,
Mrugank Prabhu, Kiran Choudaj, and Gaurav Deshmane for field assistance. We extend our gratitude to Balaji Survase,
Santosh Dimble, Promod Mujumale, Vikas Mujumale, and Vijay Mujumale for help
with transport and lodging during the fieldwork.
Abstract: The Western Ghats biodiversity
hotspot is under huge anthropogenic pressure, with unique flora and fauna
facing severe threats from habitat fragmentation, loss, and degradation. The northern Western Ghats has been poorly
studied for its small mammal fauna, hence we examined small mammals near Pune
from 2014 to 2017. Live trapping was
carried out in irrigated and rainfed agriculture fields, forests, and
grasslands at low, mid, and high elevations.
A total of 538 individuals were trapped, representing 17 species of
rodents and one shrew. Most abundantly
captured species were Millardia kondana (23%), Mus saxicola
(19%), Suncus murinus (17%), and Mus booduga (13%). Species richness and abundance of small
mammals varied across the habitats. High
elevation grasslands were species-rich relative to low elevation grasslands and
forests. Our observations indicate that
human disturbances play a role in determining the richness and abundance of
small mammals in the area, where populations are under threat from urbanization,
tourism, agriculture, grazing, and fire.
Habitat and species specific conservation measures need to be taken,
coupled with in-depth species–habitat relationship studies, for the
conservation of small mammal diversity of the northern Western Ghats.
Keywords: Conservation, forts,
high-elevation grasslands, Millardia kondana, rocky outcrops, small
mammals, threats.
Introduction
The Western Ghats (along with Sri Lanka) is a global
biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al. 2000) with remarkable variations in the
distribution of plant and animal communities ranging from flowering plants
(7,402 species, 38% endemic) to mammals (121 species, 12% endemics) (Nayar et
al. 2014; Nameer 2020). Based on the
composition of the flowering plants, the Western Ghats is divided into four
zones: northern, central, southern, and Nilgiri Mountains (Subramanyam &
Nayar 1974). The northern Western Ghats
have characteristic rocky (lateritic/basaltic) outcrops on the summit of the
mountains, and sustain highly seasonal and endemic herbaceous plant communities
that survive only for 2–3 months of the monsoon (Watve 2013).
Small mammals of the Western Ghats include bats (50
species) and rodents (31 species; Nameer 2020).
Studies on the small mammals of India began in the early 20th
century in the form of primarily descriptive and natural history surveys. Ecological and quantitative investigations
were initiated in the 1970s, and became more systematic and numerous towards
the end of the 20th century (Shanker 2003). Most of these studies were carried out in the
southern Western Ghats and Nilgiri Mountains (Chandrasekar–Rao & Sunquist
1996; Prabhakar 1998; Shanker & Sukumar 1998, 1999; Mudappa et al. 2001;
Kumar et al. 2002; Shanker 2003; Venkataraman et al. 2005; Molur & Singh
2009; Ramchandran 2013).
The Western Ghats has experienced substantial loss and
degradation of natural vegetation due to changes in land-use patterns (Jha et
al. 2000; Reddy et al. 2013). It is
forecast that the Western Ghats will be one of the most densely populated
biodiversity hotspots in the world by 2030 (Seto et al. 2012). The northern Western Ghats is the most
degraded and fragmented zone in the entire region (Roy et al. 2012). Little is known about its small mammal fauna
except for a few quantitative ecological studies conducted in the urban areas
of Mumbai (Deoras & Gokhale 1958; Brosset 1961; Deoras et al. 1975; Pradhan
1975), and some short-term surveys and species occurrence records (Wroughton
1916; Ranade 1989; Singh & Pradhan 1992; Yazdani et al. 1992; Pradhan 1993;
Pradhan & Talmale 2004, 2012; Talmale et al. 2013). Habitat loss and disturbances are taking
place at an alarming rate in the Western Ghats (Gadgil 2011). It is essential to study and conserve the
small mammals of this region, especially Critically Endangered and endemic
species like Kondana Soft–furred Rat Millardia kondana. We undertook this study to examine the
species richness, abundance, and natural history of small mammals in the
northern Western Ghats.
Materials and Methods
Study area
The study area is located in the mountain ranges of
the northern Western Ghats (Figure 1 and Table 1) near Pune in Maharashtra
State. The terrain is hilly and rugged
with characteristic basaltic and lateritic rocky outcrops on summits of mountains;
elevation 600–1,400 m. Climate is
tropical monsoon with an average temperature range of 9.6–36.7°C and average
annual rainfall of 2,500mm. The eastern
slopes are less rugged with low rainfall and covered with dry deciduous
forests, while the western slopes are highly rugged, receive high rainfall, and
covered with moist–deciduous and semi-evergreen forests. The area is under tremendous anthropogenic
pressure, especially from grazing, burning, wood extraction, agriculture, and
more recently, from housing and infrastructure development as a part of
expanding suburban areas of Pune metropolitan city. The urban area cover of Pune metropolis has
almost doubled from 2001 to 2013 (Kantakumar et al. 2015). As a result, the natural forests are being
transformed into settlements, grasslands, and agricultural fields over most of
the area.
This area has a relatively large number of
reservoirs. Irrigated agriculture is
practiced in areas below 700m, while rain-fed agriculture is predominant at the
base of hills and on gentle to moderate slopes.
A large proportion of the study area is covered with grasslands and they
can be categorized as low, mid- and high-elevation grasslands. Low-elevation grasslands (<900m) are
situated close to human settlements and are intensively modified by burning,
grazing, and fodder extraction.
Mid-elevation grasslands (900–1,200 m) are less accessible and mostly
found on ridges and steep slopes of the hills, and are comparatively less
disturbed. High elevation grasslands
(>1,200m) are relatively less disturbed due to their remoteness and also as
they come under the protection of forest and archaeological departments. They, however, face threats from fire and
developing/uncontrolled tourism. Forests
are generally confined to the high elevation areas, gorges, and areas that are
difficult to access.
Small mammal sampling
We selected 31 sites for sampling small mammals,
comprising five forest sites, 12 agriculture sites, and 14 grassland sites
(Figure 1, Table 1). We carried out trapping
of small mammals during two phases: March-–December 2014 and December
2016–February 2017.
In the first phase, our focus was documentation of the
small mammals of the study area. Hence,
we carried out trapping over a large area to cover various habitats. In each habitat, we searched for the signs of
presence of small mammals such as burrows, runways, pellets and, feeding marks,
and placed Sherman live traps (4”x4.5”x12”).
The traps were baited with a mixture of ‘pakoda’ (deep-fried gram flour
batter with onions) and peanut butter.
We laid 40 traps in each habitat and ran for a night.
In the second phase, we undertook intensive trapping
to study the abundance and habitat association of small mammals. At each site we laid five trap lines 100m in
length within a buffer of radius 200m from the center of the site. We maintained a minimum distance of 50m
between traplines and habitat the edges to avoid edge effects. Traps were placed at intervals of 10m in each
trap line (10 trapping stations). A trap
was placed within 1m of the trapping station, close to grass clumps, shrubs,
trees, rocks or litter covered areas.
Traps were checked once a day between 06.00 and 11.00 hours, then closed
and re-opened at dusk. Each habitat was
trapped for four consecutive nights between 19 December 2016–5 February
2017. Trapped individuals were measured,
sexed, weighed, marked (by fur clipping), and released at the captured
locations. We strictly followed animal
care and use guidelines recommended by the American Society of Mammalogists
(Sikes et al. 2011) during trapping and handling of the small mammals.
We calculated the abundance of species using capture
rate (number of individuals trapped per 100 trap nights) and proportion (number
of individuals of species/total number of individuals of all species x
100). Species richness and Shannon’s
diversity index were computed for each habitat using the R package
‘BiodiversityR’ (Kindt 2019).
Results
Five-hundred-and-thirty-eight individuals of 17
species of rodents and a shrew were trapped in the 5,000 trap night
effort. The overall capture rate was
10.8 individuals per 100 trap nights.
The capture rate varied considerably among species; for instance, Millardia
kondana (2.48 individuals/100 trap nights), Mus saxicola (2.04),
Suncus murinus (1.82) and Mus booduga (1.40) had high capture
rates, whereas Funambulus palmarum (0.02), Vandeleuria oleracea
(0.02), Rattus rattus (0.04), and Tatera indica (0.06) had low
capture rates.
M. kondana
(23% of all animals captured), M. saxicola (19%), S. murinus
(17%), and M. booduga (13.01%) were the most abundant
species. F. palmarum, V.
oleracea, R. rattus, T. indica, Bandicota
bengalensis, and Rattus satarae were uncommon or rare,
collectively constituting less than 4% of total animals captured (Figure 2).
Species richness was greatest in high-elevation
grasslands (seven species) and lowest in low-elevation grasslands (1.80) and
forests (1.80; Table 2). Shannon’s
diversity index was highest for high–elevation grasslands (1.31±0.31), followed
by irrigated agriculture fields (1.23±0.10) and rainfed (1.05±0.49) agriculture
fields, and was lowest for forests (0.72±0.55; Table 2).
Discussion
The trapping success (10.8%) of small mammals recorded
in our study area was higher than that reported in other sites in the Western
Ghats, which ranged from 2.6% to 5.7% (Chandrasekar–Rao & Sunquist 1996;
Prabhakar 1998; Venkataraman et al. 2005; Molur & Singh 2009), except for
the capture success rate of 10.6% recorded by Shanker (2003) in the
Nilgiris. Unlike these sites in the
Western Ghats, our study area had been modified to a high degree by humans,
with natural vegetation being transformed into a grassland–agriculture dominated
landscape, which could be a reason for the high trapping success. It is, however, usually difficult to
disentangle the influence of particular factors on trapping success, especially
in short duration and small–scale studies (Venkataraman et al. 2005; Himsworth
et al. 2014). Trapping success is also
dependent on factors such as geographic variations in densities of small
mammals (Emmons 1984; Rose 2008; Wood 2008), trapping season (Prabhakar 1998;
Shanker & Sukumar 1998; Prakash & Singh 2005), habitat
(Chandrasekar–Rao & Sunquist 1996; Venkataraman et al. 2005; Prakash &
Singh 2005), human disturbance (Rickart et al. 2011; Bajaru 2015) and the type
of bait and trap (Patric 1970; Woodman et al. 1996).
Several studies in the Western Ghats found Rattus
rattus wroughtoni and Madromys blanfordii to be dominant species
(Chandrasekar–Rao & Sunquist 1996; Prabhakar 1998; Shanker 2003;
Venkataraman et al. 2005; Shenoy & Madhusudan 2006; Ramchandran 2013). These species, however, had low abundance in
our study area. Both these species
prefer forested habitat: R.r. wroughtoni favors
undisturbed evergreen forest, while M. blanfordii prefers
deciduous and degraded forests. Hence
their low abundance was not surprising in our study area, which primarily
comprised of agriculture and grassland.
Millardia meltada,
M. booduga, M. platythrix, and S. murinus
were recorded to be the most abundant species in other sites (Prabhakar 1998;
Shanker 2003; Venkataraman et al. 2005; Shenoy & Madhusudan 2006). In our study area, M. kondana, M.
saxicola, M. booduga, and S. murinus were
the species with high abundance. We
anticipated their high abundance, as the first two species are reported to
prefer grassland while the other two favor agriculture (Bajaru et al. 2019),
and both habitat types were dominant in the study area. Though S. murinus is a
generalist species (Prakash & Singh 2005), it was trapped mainly in
agricultural fields in our study area.
Species richness (17 species) of small mammals was
high compared to those reported in other sites in the Western Ghats, 5–9
species (Prabhakar 1998; Shanker & Sukumar 1998; Mudappa et al. 2001;
Venkataraman et al. 2005; Ramchandran 2013), but was comparable with 14 species
recorded from Kodagu, Karnataka (Molur & Singh 2009). The numbers of species trapped in the
agriculture area in our study were comparable with that recorded by Molur &
Singh (2009) in Kodagu (nine species).
The species richness recorded in forests was lower (three species) than
reported in other sites of the Western Ghats, i.e., 5–9 species (Shanker 2003;
Venkataraman et al. 2005; Molur & Singh 2009; Ramchandran 2013). We anticipated that species richness would be
poor in the forest habitat as our study area was covered with highly degraded
and secondary forests, which would have impacted forest specialist
species. Moreover, the northern Western Ghats
is known to be poor in mammalian species richness compared to the other parts
of the Western Ghats (Nameer 2020).
Interestingly, we found high-elevation grasslands to be the most
species-rich: the maximum richness of a site was eight species, whereas pooled
richness was 13 species. The only other study on small mammals of
high-elevation grassland in the Western Ghats reported three species (Shanker
2003).
The high species richness in high-elevation grasslands
may be related to the low to moderate human disturbance at these sites. Disturbances such as fire, grazing, grass
cutting, cultivation, and human habitation are under control in these sites
(forts) because they come under the jurisdiction of Archaeological and Forest
Departments of Maharashtra. This finding
is consistent with the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (Connell 1978),
which predicts that species diversity is highest in moderately disturbed
habitats (Rickart et al. 2011). Other
sites in the study area are under high human disturbances, viz., urbanization,
tourism, agriculture, wood-extraction, grazing, and fire. Hence species and habitat-specific
conservation actions need to be taken up without delay to conserve these
habitats and species. Moreover, further
investigations on species-habitat relationships of the small mammals using
robust sampling and statistical analyses are needed for their effective
conservation and management.
The species accounts of the small mammal trapped in
this study are as follows:
Kondana Soft-furred Rat Millardia kondana
This species is endemic to the northern
Western Ghats and only known from four forts, viz., Sinhgad, Torna, Rajgad, and
Raireshwar. M. kondana is
a large rodent (Table 3; Image 1) with reddish or grayish-brown above and
grayish-white below. The tail is
bicolored, sparsely haired and equal to or slightly longer than head and body
length. Though M. kondana
is superficially similar to M. meltada, it differs by larger body
size, comparatively small ears and hind feet, and six distinct planter pads on
the hind feet (Mishra & Dhanda 1975).
We, however, found that some individuals of M. meltada had
six plantar pads, and an individual had five plantar pads on one foot and six
on the other foot. Hence uniqueness of
the number of plantar pads as a character in differentiating the species from
others is questionable.
M. kondana
is much heavier than M. meltada.
It is restricted to high-elevation grasslands (>1,200m) and not
trapped in other habitats or low elevations (<1,200m). Though restricted in distribution, M. kondana
was the most frequently trapped species (23% of total catches). We found that it favors the patches of
perennial herbs and scattered shrubs in high-elevation grasslands. It mainly breeds in monsoon and post-monsoon
(July–November), but a few breeding individuals were also trapped in winter
(December–January). It digs burrows near
trees, shrubs or perennial herbs; active burrows were recognized by the
presence of pellets or remnants of seeds and fruits at burrow openings.
Soft-furred Field Rat Millardia meltada
This sister species of M. kondana is
found throughout India (Agrawal 2000).
It resembles M. kondana externally but is smaller in size
and lighter in weight (Table 3; Image 2).
It was only trapped below 900m in agricultural fields and low-elevation
grasslands in our study area. It showed
a high preference for irrigated agriculture fields, which is also reported
elsewhere (Prakash & Singh 2005).
This species was relatively less abundant (4.5% of total catches) than M.
kondana. We trapped it in
December–January, and some individuals were reproductively active.
Elliot’s Spiny Mouse Mus saxicola
It is a small rodent, easily distinguished by its pure
white underparts, spiny hair, and a short tail (Table 3; Image 3). The body is grayish to grayish-brown above;
some individuals had a faint orange line separating the dorsal and ventral
sides. The species is almost indistinguishable from M. platythrix
morphologically, except for having an anterior accessory cusp on the first
lamina of first upper molar (Agrawal 2000).
It was the second most abundant species in the study area (19% of total
captures). Though it appeared to be a
habitat generalist (trapped in all the habitats), it was more common in low-
and mid-elevation grasslands. Unlike M.
kondana, this species was trapped frequently in degraded and open
grasslands lacking shrubs and trees.
Some of the individuals trapped between December–February were
reproductively active. Except for three
individuals with 3+2 (thoracic+abdominal) mammae, the rest had 4+2 mammae.
Brown Spiny Mouse Mus platythrix
This species is morphologically similar to M. saxicola
(Table 3) but lacks an anterior accessory cusp on the first lamina of first
upper molar (Agrawal 2000). It seems to
be a habitat generalist, but unlike M. saxicola, it was not
trapped in irrigated agriculture fields.
It was also not abundant (4.83% of total captures). Some individuals trapped between
December–February were reproductively active.
Except for an individual with 4+2 mammae, the rest of the rats had 3+2
mammae.
Little Indian Field Mouse Mus booduga
It is the smallest rodent that was trapped in this
study (Table 3; Image 4). Unlike M.
platythrix and M. saxicola, it has soft hair. The body is reddish-brown above and
greyish-white underneath. The tail is
bicolored, thin and its length is equal to head and body length. It showed a preference for agriculture
fields, but it was also trapped in low- and mid-elevation grasslands. Interestingly, it was not captured in
high-elevation grasslands. This was one
of the most abundant species in the study area, constituting 13.01% of total
captures. Some individuals trapped
between December–February were reproductively active.
Indian Bush Rat Golunda ellioti
This species has spiny and coarse hair, covering almost
half of the ears. It is yellowish-brown above and grayish underneath. The tail is thick, shorter than head and body
length, and covered with black hair having a yellowish or golden-yellow tinge
(Table 3; Image 5). Though this species
was trapped in all habitats, it was most often captured in low-elevation
grasslands, followed by mid-elevation grasslands. It was trapped in grazed grasslands and grass
patches among agriculture fields. Its
abundance was low (3.71% of total captures).
Sahyadris Forest Rat Rattus satarae
This species is endemic to the Western Ghats. It is morphologically similar to R. rattus
but has a very long tail (Table 3; Image 6). The body is covered with soft hair, which is
reddish-brown above and white below. The
species was recorded to be relatively less aggressive than that of R. rattus
when captured. It was trapped in
undisturbed semi-evergreen and moist–deciduous forest patches; similar results
were found in another study (Molur & Singh 2009). Overall, its abundance was low (1.11% of
total catches) in our study area. Some
individuals trapped between December–February were reproductively active.
White-tailed Wood Rat Madromys blanfordii
A large arboreal rat with a long, white-tipped tail
(Table 3; Image 7). Body covered with
soft hair; grayish above and white below.
It was trapped in forested habitats and was observed preferring ruined
structures like forts, temples, and old houses for shelter. Its abundance was low (3.53% of total
catches). Some individuals trapped between
December–February were reproductively active.
Jungle Striped Squirrel Funambulus tristriatus
This species is endemic to the Western Ghats. It is similar in appearance to F. palmarum
but is larger in size with a rufous forehead, flanks, and underside of the tail
(Table 3). All specimens trapped were
from the forested areas, and usually away from human settlements. Though we did not place traps above the
ground for trapping this highly arboreal species, the squirrels came for the
bait put in the ground-laid traps. Its
abundance was relatively higher (3.90% of total catches) than the other
arboreal rodents, viz., R. rattus and M. blanfordii. The individuals trapped in February were
found to be reproductively active.
House Shrew Suncus murinus
Suncus murinus,
a widespread and generalist species (Prakash & Singh 2005), was the only
shrew species recorded in the study area.
It has a smooth, thick, and grey coat.
The tail is shorter than head and body length and covered with thinly
scattered, long, and white hair (Table 3; Image 8). It has a strong musky smell. It was trapped mainly in irrigated
agriculture fields, followed by rainfed agriculture fields. It seems to prefer areas with moisture and
the herbaceous cover as it was frequently trapped on bunds in agriculture
fields covered with green grasses and forbs.
It was a third-most abundant species (16.91% of total captures).
Other Species
In addition to frequently trapped species, some
species were captured rarely (less than five individuals or less than 1% of
total captures; Table 3). For instance,
only three individuals of Rattus rattus were trapped near human
settlements, and three individuals of Tatera indica (Image 9) were
captured in high and mid-elevation grasslands.
The absence of T. indica in agriculture fields is
intriguing, as it is associated with agroecosystems and considered an important
crop pest (Prakash & Singh 2005). We
trapped two individuals of V. oleracea (Image 10); one by hand
from the ruined walls of the fort, the other in a rainfed agriculture field in
a trap placed on a grass-covered bund under a Ficus racemosa tree. Four individuals of B. bengalensis
(Image 11) were trapped from both rainfed and irrigated agriculture fields,
and in a high-elevation grassland. All capture locations of B. bengalensis
were close to the human settlements which was not surprising as this is a
synanthropic species, thrives in human habitation areas. We also captured a squirrel, F. palmarum,
in a rainfed agriculture field. This
study was not particularly focused on squirrels, hence trapping time and trap
placement was not ideal for capturing squirrel, which would explain the low
capture rate of this otherwise common Indian rodent species. Ratufa indica, an arboreal and
large (too large for our trap size) squirrel species, was not captured during
the study but was seen and heard in undisturbed semi-evergreen and moist
deciduous forest patches.
Table 1. Details of the trapping sites.
|
Locality |
GPS coordinates |
Elev. (m) |
Habitat |
|
Padalghar |
18.389930°N, 73.528665°E |
648 |
Rainfed agriculture field |
|
Sambrewadi |
18.392691°N, 73.741062°E |
684 |
Rainfed agriculture field |
|
Hirpodi_1 |
18.305603°N, 73.659056°E |
686 |
Rainfed agriculture field |
|
Hirpodi_2 |
18.30459441°N,73.65693911°E |
685 |
Rainfed agriculture field |
|
Atkarwadi_agriculture |
18.37549478°N,73.76999058°E |
730 |
Rainfed agriculture field |
|
Kasabe-Shivtar |
18.157087°N, 73.626977°E |
128 |
Rainfed agriculture field |
|
Gauddara |
18.3646018°N,73.82818624°E |
818 |
Rainfed agriculture field |
|
Gunjavane_1 |
18.25537584°N,73.70641709°E |
707 |
Rainfed agriculture field |
|
Girinagar |
18.41468886°N,73.75884102°E |
610 |
Irrigated agriculture field |
|
Khed Shivapur |
18.353207°N,73.84908601°E |
773 |
Irrigated agriculture field |
|
Hirpodi_3 |
18.30318151°N,73.6672126°E |
677 |
Irrigated agriculture field |
|
Gunjavane_2 |
18.25837147°N,73.71070131°E |
694 |
Irrigated agriculture field |
|
Katraj Ghat_grassland_2 |
18.39920702°N,73.85563861°E |
970 |
Low-elevation grassland |
|
Kolambi_grassland |
18.23974364°N,73.59274876°E |
813 |
Low-elevation grassland |
|
Manjai Asani_1 |
18.25728995°N,73.72846273°E |
830 |
Low-elevation grassland |
|
Sonde-Mathana |
18.249864°N, 73.784194°E |
747 |
Low-elevation grassland |
|
Atkarwadi_grassland |
18.39191865°N,73.77172104°E |
734 |
Low-elevation grassland |
|
Manjai Asani_2 |
18.2532695°N,73.72219777°E |
928 |
Mid-elevation grassland |
|
Katraj Ghat_grassland_3 |
18.40036272°N,73.85156276°E |
1,083 |
Mid-elevation grassland |
|
Velhe |
18.28995131°N,73.62497345°E |
960 |
Mid-elevation grassland |
|
Katraj Ghat_grassland_1 |
18.399918°N, 73.849462°E |
1,120 |
Mid-elevation grassland |
|
Metpilaware |
18.252577°N, 73.631384°E |
995 |
Mid-elevation grassland |
|
Avasarewadi |
18.37065422°N,73.77788407°E |
1,057 |
Mid-elevation grassland |
|
Rajgad Fort |
18.24814956°N,73.68249373°E |
1,251 |
High-elevation grassland |
|
Sinhgad Fort |
18.36604523°N,73.75451226°E |
1,312 |
High-elevation grassland |
|
Torna Fort |
18.27623015°N,73.62228899°E |
1,376 |
High-elevation grassland |
|
Gunjavane_forest |
18.24949456°N,73.69378517°E |
825 |
Forest |
|
Bhandravali |
18.205975°N, 73.687931°E |
790 |
Forest |
|
Kolambi_forest |
18.26824283°N,73.594925°E |
960 |
Forest |
|
Katraj Ghat_forest |
18.41256705°N,73.85606534°E |
857 |
Forest |
|
Atkarwadi_forest |
18.37301657°N,73.76873061°E |
775 |
Forest |
Table 2. Species richness and diversity of small
mammals in various habitats. Mean, standard deviation, and, minimum &
maximum in parentheses.
|
Habitat |
Richness |
Diversity |
|
Low-elevation grassland |
1.80±1.30 (0–3) |
0.85±0.49 |
|
Mid-elevation grassland |
3.00±1.26 (1–4) |
0.95±0.34 |
|
High-elevation grassland |
7.00±1.00 (6–8) |
1.31±0.31 |
|
Rainfed agriculture |
2.75±1.75 (1–6) |
1.05±0.49 |
|
Irrigated agriculture |
2.75±1.25 (1–4) |
1.23±0.10 |
|
Forest |
1.80±1.09 (1–3) |
0.72±0.55 |
Table 3. Summary of external characters (in cm) and
weights (in g) of small mammals measured in this study. Mean, standard
deviation, and sample size in parentheses.
|
Species |
HB |
TL |
HF |
EL |
Weight |
|
Millardia kondana |
13.74±1.79 (121) |
14.59±1.58 (114) |
3.02±0.18 (124) |
2.06±0.15 (124) |
85.95±29.98 (124) |
|
Millardia meltada |
12.07±1.07 (24) |
11.13±1.92 (21) |
2.50±0.21 (23) |
1.91±0.19 (24) |
56.41±16.21 (24) |
|
Mus saxicola |
8.72±1.17 (100) |
6.98±0.60 (90) |
1.77±0.09 (99) |
1.33±0.09 (95) |
20.62±7.57 (95) |
|
Mus platythrix |
8.86±1.07 (25) |
7.38±0.49 (16) |
1.75±0.15 (25) |
1.35±0.11 (24) |
23.00±7.89 (24) |
|
Mus booduga |
6.66±1.05 (62) |
6.78±0.70 (61) |
1.44±0.10 (64) |
1.10±0.11 (64) |
8.76±2.74 (63) |
|
Golunda ellioti |
11.34±1.25 (18) |
10.61±1.13 (17) |
2.40±0.18 (18) |
1.58±0.16 (18) |
50.88±13.89 (18) |
|
Madromys blanfordii |
13.72±2.29 (17) |
18.71±2.87 (18) |
3.38±0.20 (18) |
2.30±0.20 (18) |
83.88±35.65 (18) |
|
Rattus satarae |
14.58±1.11 (6) |
22.70±1.52 (5) |
3.20±0.08 (6) |
2.21±0.11 (6) |
79.33±19.21 (6) |
|
Rattus rattus |
11.95±0.07 (2) |
15.35±1.20 (2) |
2.95±0.07 (2) |
2.00±0.00 (2) |
47.00±4.24 (2) |
|
Suncus murinus |
11.61± 0.81 (17) |
7.58±0.42 (18) |
1.96±0.08 (18) |
1.29±0.17 (18) |
35.00±5.65 (16) |
|
Bandicota bengalensis |
14.62±2.20 (4) |
15.17±4.96 (4) |
3.25±0.23 (4) |
2.12±0.05 (4) |
100.00±43.81 (4) |
|
Tatera indica |
12.86±2.91 (3) |
17.10±3.98 (3) |
4.00±0.10 (3) |
2.30±0.10 (3) |
129.00±12.72 (2) |
|
Vandeleuria oleracea |
7.20±0.56 (2) |
11.55±0.63 (2) |
1.75±0.07 (2) |
1.40±0.14 (2) |
14.00±0.00 (1) |
|
Funambulus tristriatus |
14.00±0.96 (3) |
14.05±0.84 (4) |
3.85±0.19 (4) |
1.50±0.00 (4) |
82.00±55.46 (3) |
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