Transactions of the Western Section of the Wildlife Society

2007, Volume 43


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Year2007
Volume43
TitleRodent Diversity, Vegetation Complexity, and Patch Size in Remnant Coastal Sage Scrub Habitat of Southern California
Author(s)David J. Germano
ArticleLink to PDF

Abstract:
In 1996, I trapped rodents at seven sites of remnant coastal sage scrub habitat of southern California. caught eight murid and two heteromyid species of rodents. Including two other sites where contemporary rodent trapping took place by others, rodent diversity at these nine sites ranged from 1.55 to 5.23. The composition of species was similar to nearby sites trapped almost three decades earlier, although Dipodomys agilis was not found. I measured vegetation characteristics at four of these sites and at the two additional sites. Neither cover values of component vegetation, a linear combination of these values, a physiognomic complexity index of vegetation, nor patch size significantly explained rodent diversity or relative abundance. However, rodent diversity was signifi cantly related to shrub diversity at these sites


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