Socio-spatial organization in a local population of the forest dormouse Dryomys nitedula, with a review of these relations in other dormouse species

摘要

The socio-spatial organization in a local population of the forest dormouse Dryomys nitedula situated in Lithuania was studied using the capture-mark-recapture (CMR) method in a nestbox grid. Adult D. nitedula are sedentary and have permanent home ranges which are the basis of the socio-spatial organization of their populations. Average home range size per activity season was two times larger in adult males than in females (2.6 ha and 1.3 ha, respectively). On average, 53% and 44% of the area of the ranges of males and females, respectively overlapped with the ranges of neighboring individuals. Intersexual overlap of ranges was higher than intrasexual overlap. Males shared their home range with a larger number of other individuals than females (3.6 and 1.5 individuals, respectively). Adult dormice partly shifted their home ranges in consecutive years. During the course of the entire activity season, single individuals of both sexes (72.9%) were found most frequently in nestboxes, while females with litters of young (12.6%) and groups consisting of two or more dormice (14.5%) were much rarer. Pairs consisting of an adult male and female were found during the mating season, while groups of different composition were recorded most often when juveniles became independent.