Diversity and habitat preferences of muroid rodents (Rodentia, Muroidea) in the Ukrainian Eastern Carpathians

The Carpathian region is an area of significant biotic diversity, where the presence of both natural and disturbed habitats together with local ecological and biogeographic factors play an important role in shaping the taxonomic composition and species diversity of animal communities. The aim of the present paper is to generalise for the first time all available data on rodent surveys carried out in the region, particularly in key protected areas, with a comparative analysis of diversity and habitat preferences of muroids in the Ukrainian Eastern Carpathians. The study is based on field data collected in 1982 to 2020 in various habitats within the Transcarpathian Lowland, Uzhanskyi National Nature Park and adjacent areas, Skole Beskids National Nature Park, and mountain massifs of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve. The analysis revealed relatively high diversity indices for muroid communities. Primeval habitats such as lowland oak forests and mountain beech and spruce forests harbour rodent communities with low species diversity and clearly dominating species. The lowest species richness was revealed for forest-dwelling species, whereas rodent communities of disturbed and shrubby habitats are characterised by the highest values of diversity indices. The similarity structure of muroids by the spectrum of habitats in which they occur is determined in the studied region by such factors as relative abundance, dominance, and habitat preferences of species.