Rodent diversity and habitat use in a protected area, Buenos Aires province, Argentina

Abstract

Habitat use of rodents is associated to environmental variables, species requirements and biological interactions. The aim of this study was to analyse the macro and microhabitat use and spatial variation in the abundance of small sylvan rodents that inhabit Otamendi Natural Reserve, Argentina. We studied rodent communities in six habitats: riparian forest, Celtis tala forest, lowland grassland, salt marsh and two highland grasslands. We captured a total of 153 individual of Scapteromys aquaticus Thomas 1920, Akodon azarae Fischer 1829, Oxymycterus rufus Fischer 1814, Oligoryzomys flavescens Waterhouse 1837, Deltamys kempi Thomas 1917 and O. nigripes Olfers 1818 with a trapping effort of 3636 trap-nights. The species richness is maintained by the presence of different habitats that satisfy specific requirements from specialist species to more generalist species using differentially the reserve and forming communities of different specific composition in each habitat. A differential macrohabitat use by all species and a certain level of selectivity at microhabitat scale in individuals of two species were observed. This study shown that the diversity of environments of a Natural Reserves allows the maintenance of many sylvan species of small rodents; confirming the high ecological and conservational value of the reserves inside an urban region.