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    STUDIA BIOLOGIA - Issue no. 2 / 2008  
         
  Article:   NEST BOXES OCCUPANCY BY THREE COEXISTING DORMOUSE SPECIES AND INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION IN THE TRANSYLVANIAN PLAIN (ROMANIA).

Authors:  ELIANA SEVIANU, LIVIU FILIPAŞ. 		 
       
         
  Abstract:  The composition and structure of the dormice communities (fam. Gliridae) as well as their interspecific relations and habitat features which shape them were studied in five deciduous forests in the Transylvanian Plain. By monthly check of nest boxes and nest tubes, 1367 records of dormice were made during three years (2005-2007). The communities were formed by two (Glis glis, Muscardinus avellanarius) or three species (G. glis, M. avellanarius and Dryomys nitedula) and were dominated by G. glis (81%). Interspecific competition for nest boxes appeared between G. glis and M. avellanarius, resulting in the exclusion of the smaller species. G. glis and D. nitedula showed a marked preference for nest boxes over nest tubes, while M. avellanarius showed no preference for either type of artificial nests. G. glis had the lowest occupancy rate (14.61%) in the oak forest with no shrub layer, and the highest (53.02%) in forests with shrub layer well developed, but with limited offer of natural nesting sites (tree hollows). M. avellanarius occupancy rates were influenced by the concurrence with G. glis and were highest (8.19%) in the oak-hornbeam forest (with nest tubes) and lowest (2.92%) in oak forest with no shrubs. D. nitedula had low occupancy rates at all sites except for the oak forest with no shrub layer (8.76%), where it probably supplements its diet with animal food.

KEYWORDS: dormouse communities, nest sites, interspecific competition 		 
         
     
         
         
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