Insectivora, Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Rodentia and Carnivora of the Gran Paradiso National Park: checklist and preliminary ecological characterization

Abstract

Between 1992 and 1996 a survey was carried out in the Gran Paradiso National Park (Western Italian Alps) in order to draw up a species list and collect ecological information on the different taxa of the orders of Insectivora, Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Rodentia and Carnivora, excluding marmot and fox. Data were obtained from different sources, among which: sighting, trapping, inspection of discarded bottles, pellet analysis and visit to potential bat roost sites. With the exception of data from pellets, records are reported with regard to seven habitat types: human settlements, deciduous woods, mixed woods, coniferous woods, ecotones (stream edges and grassland close to woods), green alder shrubwoods and alpine open habitats far from woodland. At a more detailed level the composition of communities of woodland Insectivores and Rodents is described. In deciduous forests the most frequently trapped taxa were Clethrionomys glareolus, Apodemus sp. and Sorex araneus; in coniferous woods the dominant species were Clethrionomys glareolus and Eliomys quercinus.