The Relationship between Habitats of Small Rodents and Land-use Pattern in Yato of Urban Area

Abstract

Yato (small valley with paddy field) in the urban area is important habitat for rural animals. Yato is a rural landscape made up of coppice forests, grasslands and farmlands. We discussed relations between the fauna and distribution of small rodents and land use of Yato landscape in the southwest Tama hills. As a result, Japanese large field mouse (Apodemus speciosus), house mouse (Mus musculus), brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) and harvest mouse (Micromys minutus) were observed by trappings and finding nests. Habitat utilization by these rodents were recognized as follows. 1. A. speciosus were dominant species in the survey area. They used all elements (coppice forest, farmland, grassland and paddy field) in Yato. It was considered that its main habitat was the coppice forest. 2. M. musculus utilized the farmland as its main habitat. 3. M. minutus were utilized the confined grassland. 4. R. norvegicus were captured only a few individuals at the farmland. When the mean range lengths were considered by the method of capture-recapture, it was clarified that A. speciosus had longer range lengths than any other species. It was suggested that landscape mosaics in Yato were important as rodent habitat. We concluded that managing land-use patterns of Yato is required to effectively conserve the rodents' diversity and their habitats.