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Shrew Talk
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"SHREW TALK" - Vol. 1, No. 25 - 02 December
1997
SHREW TALK - 02 December 1997 - Vol. 1, No. 25
Number of Recipients: >282
.
Contents of this Issue
.
o Research
1. Landscape structure and guidelines for conservation of shrews
1a.Re: Landscape structure / guidelines for conservation of shrews/
IUCN?
2. Ugandan shrews
3. Trapped shrews in discarded bottles
4. Baiting shrew traps: An appetizer for raccoons...
5. Shrew trapping: A reply to J. Whitaker (ST 1/24, 24 November, 1997)
6. More CMR shrew trapping
o Introductions
1. Juha-Pekka Hirvi: Eco-toxicology
2. Jon Benge: Ecology of riparian mammals
o Shrew Bibliography: New Papers / Books
1. Addendum: References to shrew parasites
2. Re: Landscape structure / guidelines for conservation: References
o What's New on the Shrew (ist's) Site
o Shrew Talk Instructions
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o RESEARCH
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1) Landscape structure and guidelines for conservation of shrews
.
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 1997 09:16:17 +0100 (MET)
From: Ron Verhagen <verhagen@ruca.ua.ac.be>
.
Dear Werner, Do you know of any publications or reports in which landscape
structure is related to the presence or abundance of West European shrews
and guidelines are developed for a better protection and conservation of
these species.
Kind regards, Ron
Ron Verhagen Evolutionary Biology University of Antwerp Belgium Groenenborgerlaan
171 - 2020 Antwerp, Belgium Tel. xx-(0)3-218.04.57 Fax. xx-(0)3-218.04.74
_______________________________________________________________________
1a) Re: Landscape structure / guidelines for conservation of shrews/
IUCN?
.
From: W. Haberl - shrewbib@sorex.vienna.at
.
Dear Ron,
I found a few references that might be of interest (see below). You
may also want to take a look at the IUCN/SSC report 1995 (Status Survey
and Conservation Action Plan). I have made offers to extend this network
to the IUCN / Insectivore Specialist Group. I would very much appreciate
receiving any comments from the IUCN members. What can be done for the
conservation of threatened shrew species? How can we help? The Shrew (ist's)
Site would be willing to act as a mediator and a possibility for fund-raising.
I hope the below references (I have also included some non-European
literature) are of help. You can also look up the abstracts on the CD-ROM.
(The papers by R. Schroepfer deal with the structure of river banks
necessary for Neomys fodiens.)
Best wishes,
Werner _______________________________________________________________________
2) Ugandan Shrews
.
From: u01pj@abdn.ac.uk
Subject: Shrew talk
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 17:15:07 +0000 (GMT)
.
Dear Werner,
Thanks very much for your help on the references. They were quite useful.
The trapping I carried out was systematic, over a period of 6 1/2 weeks
(3200 trapnights).Caught 13 species (5 spp of shrew & 8 spp of rodents),
involving 234 individuals and an average of 1.7 captures per trapsite.
I dissected the shrews at the University of Uganda, to be identified by
R. Kityo. 2 weeks ago I also faxed Rainer Hutterer to get some references
on Ugandan shrews, and (SNIP) I am still waiting for R. Kityo to confirm
his identification. Apart from that my overall data show so far interesting
results. (Robert Kityo works for the Museum at Makerere. There was another
expedition to Mt. Elgon in 1996, and the girl who worked on rodents as
well suggested to me to get the shrews identified by Robert.)
Pascale Juch _______________________________________________________________________
3) Trapped shrews in discarded bottles
.
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 15:23:52 -0500 (EST)
From: VctrMan@aol.com
Subject: Shrew Talk: Live-trapping
.
While in South Africa many years ago working on my doctorate on vlei
rats, I had the opportunity to live trap and study Crocidura. I found a
publication in which someone in the UK had studied the small mammals associated
with roadside rest stops in which they had noted several dead shrews in
old wine bottles thrown back in the bushes. I thought this was a novel
idea (and I got to drink the wine too), so I placed wine bottles (pushed
down in the soft soil of the vlei "marsh" lying on their side
so the opening was flush with the ground). I was astounded as to the success
rate. Initially I used no bait, and found that it made not a difference.
Shrews entered out of curiosity and were unable to get a foothold to get
back out. If I were to do it again, I would put something in for food (meal
worms, etc.) merely as an aid in keeping them alive. Good luck.
Dick Davis Calif. Dept. of Health _______________________________________________________________________
4) Baiting shrew traps: An appetizer for raccoons...
.
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 22:14:20 -0500
From: Stuart & Maureen <Nivens@vaniercollege.qc.ca>
To: shrewbib@sorex.vienna.at
Subject: Shrew Talk - disaster at bait friendly trial run
.
I had inquiried last year on how to improve shrew survivability when
live trapping. I got some great advise from a number of people. I trap
small mammals as part of a college course, so identification, aging, sexing,
and handling live animals are my reasons for doing this. I went to our
Animal Care Committee, of which I am a member, and we all decided on increased
intervals between trap checks and a modification of the bait. Cat food
would be added to increase shrew survivability and apple slices would be
added along with the peanut butter/oatmeal/vegetable oil mix to increase
moisture content. I used small cans of dry pellet form cat treats as they
were the easiest to handle in the field. I had done everything right, hadn't
I? WELL.......... The Raccoons loved me for it. Not only did they follow
behind us ripping apart the traps and damaging quite a few of them, they
got a nice meal. The appetizer was the apple, followed by the main course
of the peanut butter/oatmeal/oil mix, and finally finishing off a few cat
treats for dessert. If they were lucky, they got a small mammal as a bonus
to their meal. The students were not impressed.
I work in an area that is VERY abundant in wildlife. I think I will
skip the cat food for next year as I believe that this is what brought
the Raccoons in at full force. Military precision and accuracy, not one
trap undamaged. Their were even a few obvious signs that it was a Raccoon,
such as paw prints and a few very large steaming scat samples amid bits
of trap. Any non smelly alternatives? I have been thinking of mealworms,
but are their any other ideas out there? I measured up the short tailed
shrew and they are the size of the small mice we have, so cutting holes
in the traps for the shrews to escape is not feasable. These shrew excluders
(holes cut out of the trap) that were recommended to me last year by some
of you readers worries me. If I do that, wouldn't the small mammals find
that edge in the metal (we have aluminum and sheet metal) and chew their
way out?
My other option is for the students to identify study skins of the
animals we would have seen and handle lab mice to get their skills in handling
small mammals. I am not ready to go that way yet.
Any suggestions?
Stuart Niven
_______________________________________________________________________
5) Shrew trapping: A reply to J. Whitaker (ST 1/24, 24 November, 1997)
.
From: Julie A. Fuller [SMTP:jfuller@selway.umt.edu]
Sent: Monday, November 24, 1997 10:54 PM
To: 'joeshrew@siu.edu'
.
My name is Julie Fuller. I am a freshman majoring in wildlife biology
at the University of Montana. I am doing a project this spring at the Lee
Metcalf National Wildlife refuge that deals with capturing small mammals
for a simple survey. I plan to use both pitfall traps and Sherman live
traps to gather data, and I wanted to ask you about your pitfall experience.
I will have to add the water to the pitfalls to kill the shrews in
order to identify the species. My question is, will the pitfalls show results
immediately? How long should I expect to have them out before I should
find results?
Also, when you pre-baited the Sherman traps and the Russian traps,
how long did you pre-bait for? I was planning on five days... I don't know
if that is too long or too short.
Thank you very much for your help!
--Julie Fuller _______________________________________________________________________
6) More CMR shrew trapping
.
From: Stephen Petersen (ddansere@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca) On 28.11.97 18:05
I am looking for a reliable method to live trap shrews (for mark recapture)
while still being able to identify them to species. Our speicies are Sorex
cinereus, S.hoyi, S. monticolus, S. arcticus, and maybe S. palustris. Any
help would be appreciated.
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o INTRODUCTIONS
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1) Juha-Pekka Hirvi: Eco-toxicology
.
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 12:09:00 +0200
From: Juha-Pekka Hirvi <Juha-Pekka.Hirvi@vyh.fi>
Organization: Suomen ympäristökeskus
.
I am working with national monitoring of harmful substances like heavy
metals and persistent organig pollutants (POPs). In our pilotstudies we
have found that the shrew are quite good indicator species to reflect loadings
and concentration levels of these substances as general in foodchains of
terrestrial boreal environment.
I want to be putted on the E-mail list. E-Mailing adress is; juha-pekka.hirvi@vyh.fi
Sincerely yours
Juha-Pekka Hirvi M.Sc. ecotoxicology Finnish Environment Institute
Monitoring and Assessment Division P.O.Box 140 FIN -00251 Helsinki FINLAND
tel: +358 9 403000 fax: +358 9 40300391 _______________________________________________________________________
2) Jon Benge: Ecology of riparian mammals
.
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 1997 10:29:17 +0000
From: j.benge@herts.ac.uk (Jon Benge)
.
I am a PhD student at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, studying
aspects of the ecology of riparian mammals. At the moment I am working
primarily on the water vole (Arvicola terrestris) but I would very much
like to include some work on the European water shrew (Neomys fodiens)
in my research. With the water voles I am looking at habitat use/requirements
and related subjects, I would be interested in doing the same for water
shrews. I realise that they are difficult to study in the field, but if
anyone has any advice or suggestions I would be very interested to hear
from you.
Regards Jon
Jon Benge Landscape & Ecology Research Group Department of Environmental
Sciences University of Hertfordshire Bayfordbury Field Station Lower Hatfield
Rd Hertford, Herts, SG13 8LD Tel. (01707) 285562 Mobile. 0467 488589 Fax.
(01992) 503498 Email. J.Benge@herts.ac.uk
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o SHREW BIBLIOGRAPHY: New Papers
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ÒThe Shrew BibliographyÓ is a collection of more than 6000 references
to research on the biology of the Soricidae (Insectivora, Mammalia) and
small mammal ecology. More info: http://members.vienna.at/shrew/shrewbib.html
To announce your new research papers/books, please follow the instructions
(separate fields with the character "#"): Author(s)#Year#Title#Journal&Page
No.#Abstract#Keywords#Address *I* would appreciate receiving a reprint
of your paper and/or a list of your publications to add to the bibliography.
_______________________________________________________________________
1) Addendum: References to shrew parasites
.
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 21:36:06 -0700
From: Don Pattie <donpatt@nait.ab.ca>
.
Werner and Mike Kinsella:
A couple of references to parasites of shrews (Vagrant shrew Sorex
vagrans, Pygmy shrew Sorex hoyi and Big short-tailed shrew Blarina brevicauda)
sorry haven't learned italics on this machine yet.
Kennedy, M.J. and R.A. Newman, 1986. Synopsis of the parasites of vertebrates
of Canada, ectoparasites of terrestrial mammals. Queen's Printer, Edmonton,
Alberta 109pp
Kennedy, M.J. 1986. Synopsis of the parasites of vertebrates of Canada,
helminths and protozoa of terrestrial mammals. Queen's Printer, Edmonton,
Alberta 90 pp.
Cheers, Don Pattie _______________________________________________________________________
2) Re: Landscape structure / guidelines for conservation: References
.
From: W. Haberl - shrewbib@sorex.vienna.at (Taken from 'The Shrew Bibliography')
-------------------------------------------------
492 Bowland, J.M., M.R. Perrin 1993 Wetlands as reservoirs of small-mammal
populations in the natal Drakensberg. South African Journal of Wildlife
Research 23(2): 39-43. English; English Afrikaans Wetland areas supported
a much greater density of small mammals than did other habitats, and represent
areas of considerable conservation importance. Small-mammal species diversity
increased with increasing habitat heterogeneity and disturbance. Fire is
an important tool in maximizing population density and diversity of the
small-mammal community.
691 Canova, L., M. Fasola 1991 Communities of small mammals in six
biotopes of northern Italy. Acta Theriologica 36(1-2): 73-86. English Community
diversity and richness were positively correlated with habitat structural
diversity. The species selected micro-habitats that were significantly
different from those available; ground cover at arboreal and grass level
and litter structure were generally the most important variables. There
were significant differences in microhabitat use among dominant species;
the intensity of segregation was higher in mature woodland and alder grove
than in the other biotopes, which may reflect their different management.
1279 Eichenberger, C. 1986 Faunenaustausch von Kleinsäugern zwischen
naturnahen Biotopen und Intensivkulturen. Lizentiatsarbeit, Zool. Inst.,
Univ. Bern.
1522 Frank, F. 1953 Die Entstehung neuer Feldmaus-Plagegebiete durch
Moorkultivierung und Melioration. Wasser und Boden 5: 1-4. 2179 Herman,
J.T., R. Gubbels, F. Schepers, R. Schols 1990 The importance of the streams
in South Limburg (Netherlands) for wildlife. Publicaties van het Natuurhistorisch
Genootschap in Limburg 38(1): 35-68. Dutch; English summ. This paper discusses
the faunistic importance of the streams and small rivers in the southern
part of the province of Limburg. In general, the characteristics of these
streams and small rivers differ a lot from those in parts of the Netherlands,
mainly becaue of their higher rate of flow. Although man has had a profound
influence on the stream habitats, many streams are still of great importance
for various animal species; several of these species only occur in this
part of the country. However, many species have decreased in numbers and
distribution or are already extinct. This is due to regulation and alluviation
works, agricultural practices, disturbance and, especially, very poor water
quality in the first part of this century. Numbers, occurrence, distribution,
population size and trends, habitat demands and threats for these species
are discussed. Recommendations for the management of these species are
presented. It is stressed, however, that the protection and development
of a natural, self-supporting and complete aquatic ecosystem should be
the main goal, rather than the introduction of a large number of protective
measures for individual species.
2708 Karpinski, J. 1947 Shrews (Sorex spp.) and water shrews (Neomys
spp.). The part they play in the forest and the necessity of their protection.
Chron. Przyr. Ojczsta, Krakow 3: 27-31. Polish; English summ.
3426 McComb, W.C., C.L. Chambers, M. Newton 1993 Small mammal and amphibian
communities and habitat associations in red alder stands, central Oregon
Coast Range. Northwest Science 67(3): 181-188. English
3434 McDonald, K.A., J.H. Brown 1992 Using montane mammals to model
extinctions due to global change. Conservation Biology 6(3): 409-415. English;
Spanish summ. We use data on the species-area relationship and the nested
subset structure of the boreal mammal faunas inhabiting isolated mountaintops
in the Great Basin to develop a simple quantitative model that predicts
the number and identity of species that would go extinct under an assumed
scenario of changing climate and vegetation. Global warming of 3 degree
C is predicted to cause the loss of 9-62% of the species inhabiting each
mountain range and the extinction of three of fourteen species throughout
the region. These results suggest (1) that it is possible to make highly
plausible predictions about the susceptibility of species to extinction
without detailed information about their population biology, and (2) that
global and regional environmental changes seriously threaten the survival
of species that are restricted in distribution to both natural Ôhabitat
islandsÕ and biological reserves.
3824 Neet, C.R., N. Naceur 1995 Especes menacees d'extinction du canton
de Vaud - Mesures de conservation. Centre de conservation de la faune et
la nature, St-Sulpice.
4034 Pachinger, K. 1984 Structure and productivity of micromammals
in 2 types of forest with various degrees of influence by man. Acta Fac.
Rerum Nat. Univ. Comenianae Zool. 27: 57-70. Slovak; English summ.
4834 Schröpfer, R. 1983 Die Wasserspitzmaus (Neomys fodiens Pennant,
1771) als Biotopgüteanzeiger für Uferhabitate an Fließgewässern.
Verh. Dtsch. Zool. Ges. (Stuttgart) 1983: 137-141.
4835 Schröpfer, R. 1985 Symposium über semiaquatische Säugetiere
und ihre Lebensräume. Z. Angew. Zool. 72(1/2): 1-10. 4836 Schröpfer,
R. 1985 Ufergebundenes Verhalten und Habitatselektion bei der Wasserspitzmaus
Neomys fodiens (Pennant, 1771). Z. Angew. Zool. 72(1/2): 37-48.
4841 Schröpfer, R., M. Stubbe 1992 The diversity of European semiaquatic
mammals within the continuum of running water systems - an introduction
to the symposium. In: Schröpfer, R., M. Stubbe, M., D. Heidecke (eds.):
Semiaquatische Säugetiere. Semiaquatic mammals. Kongress- und Tagungsberichte
der Martin Luther Univ. Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Wiss. Beiträge
Univ. Halle 1992: 9-14.
4842 Schröpfer, R., M. Stubbe, M., D. Heidecke (eds.) 1992 Semiaquatische
Säugetiere. Semiaquatic mammals. Kongress- und Tagungsberichte der
Martin Luther Univ. Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Wiss. Beiträge
Univ. Halle 1992, 468 p.
4986 Shvarts, E.A., D.V. Demin, M.V. Glazov, D.G. Zamolodchikov 1992
Organization of the population of shrews in Eurasian temperate forests:
Effect of the structure of soil mesofauna on this population. Doklady Akademii
Nauk Sssr 322(2): 427-431. Russian Cluster analysis of data on the biotopic
distribution of Sorex araneus, S. caecutiens, S. minutus, S. isodon, S.
minutissimus and Neomys fodiens was used to assess the spatial organization
of shrew populations in conifer-broadleaved forests of European Russia.
An increase in the total reserves of soil mesofauna biomass results in
the fact that the major dimensional classes of invertebrates become so
abundant that they can ensure a stable existence of additional species.
5152 Spitzenberger, F. 1964 Zur Ökologie und Bionomie der Spitzmäuse
(Mammalia, Insectivora) der Donauauen oberhalb und unterhalb Wiens. Unpublished
Ph.D. Thesis, University Vienna.
5953 Yahner, R.H. 1989 Small mammals associated with even-aged aspen
and mixed-oak forest stands in central Pennsylvania (USA). Journal of the
Pennsylvania Academy of Science 62(3): 122-126. English Correlations between
several small mammal variables and habitat features, such as species richness
of small mammals and density of fallen logs, suggested that small mammals
selected younger stands in order to more efficiently forage, avoid predators,
or find suitable home sites and microclimate. Future cutting cycles are
expected to have a greater negative impact on P. leucopus than on the other
two species. Because species richness (S) and TI changed little among years
or habitats, H' and J' may be better variables to use when assessing the
impact of even-aged forest managment on small mammals communities over
time or among stands of different age or cover type.
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The Shrew Bibliography (> 6000 references) (available on CD ROM)
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