Abstract:

Rats were investigated in Beijing Songshan National Nature Reserve in Junes and Octobers of both 2009 and 2010. A total of 95 individuals belonging to eight species, four genera and two families were captured. The survey regions were divided into seven habitat types based on forest vegetations. The rodent community structures of different microhabitats were analyzed on seven indexes, including species (S), capture rate (C), proportion (G), Shannon-Wiener index (H'), evenness index (J'), degree of dominance (D) and similarity index (I). The results showed that Rattus confucianus, Apodemus draco and Apodemus speciosus were dominant species in the nature reserve. The proportion of Apodemus agrarius in rat community became significantly lower than that of 20 years ago, and Apodemus uralensis was found for the first time in the nature reserve. The community diversity and evenness enhanced with increase of the species number, and reduced with increase of the dominant species number.

Key words: rodent, community structure, diversity, Songshan National Nature Reserve