Non-volant Small Mammals in Landslides Caused by the Wenchuan Earthquake in a Fragmented Forest of Sichuan, China

Landslides caused by the magnitude 8.0 Wenchuan Earthquakes had brought extensive habitat changes in the montane region. Until now, little is known about the non-volant small mammals in landslide disturbed areas. In this study, we compared the non-volant small mammal communities between seismic landslides and undisturbed areas in a broadleaved deciduous forest in the Longxi-Hongkou National Nature Reserve, Sichuan, China. Our goals were to understand the response Of non-volant small mammal communities to landslide disturbance, and to explore the effect of vegetation recovery and source populations of non-volant small mammals on the recovery process of small mammal communities in landslides. Pitfall traps were set to capture non-volant small mammals in landslides and control sites from April 2,010 to January 2014. Vegetation covers were visually estimated along with each small mammal trapping period. Our results showed that the relative abundance of non-volant small mammal communities in landslides were significantly lower than these in control sites. Shannon-Weiner diversity indices were higher in landslides. The relative abundance and species richness of non-volant small mammal communities in landslides were positively significantly correlated with non-volant small mammal communities in control sites, as well as the herb covers in landslides (P<0.05). We concluded that non-volant small mammals could recolonize in landslides soon after seismic landslides, but the communities were highly variable and still need more time to recover. The recovery of herb layer in landslides and source populations in undisturbed areas played important roles in promoting the recovery of non-volant small mammal communities in landslides.