Abstract:
A detailed study was conducted in the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary
during 1999-200 I to prepare an inventory and to estimate the abundance of small
mammal fauna in diverse ecological habitats of the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary.
In this study, a total of twenty seven species of small mammals belonging
to eight orders were recorded from the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary. Among the
eight orders Rodentia was represented maximum with eleven species followed by
Carnivora with ten species, remaining orders represented only by a single species.
While comparing the rodents trapped from different habitats, natural forest
account for more number of species than plantation and vayal. The most common
rodent species in the three habitats was Rattus rattus, whereas Golunda ellioti (Indian
bush rat) was found only in the moist deciduous natural forest because of the
favourable ecological conditions prevailing there.
Maximum diversity was more in the natural forest than in plantation and
vayal whereas species richness was more in vayal followed by plantation and natural
forest. The relative dominance was also high in natural forest than plantation and
vayal.
Correlation between floral diversity and rodent species indicates that
natural forest with more number of plant species possessed high rodent species
richness. The ideal conditions prevailing in the natural forest would have helped the
survival of rodent species. The lack of ideal conditions in the plantation and vayal
would have been the reason for lesser number of rodent species.
