Abundance, diversity, and community structure of small mammals in forest fragments in Prince Edward Island National Park, Canada

Anthropogenic activities in Prince Edward Island (Canada) have created a mosaic of fragmented uneven-aged forests and agricultural and pasture lands, as well as large amounts of edge habitat. Although the mammalian fauna of the province is largely composed of small mammals, no previous study has investigated how they respond to habitat fragmentation. I surveyed 14 forest fragments in Prince Edward Island National Park to assess the effects of habitat fragmentation on the abundance and diversity of small mammals. A total of 897 small mammals from 11 different species were captured during 10 231 trap-nights. The most frequently captured species were the eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus (53.5%)), and the deer mouse, (Peromyscus maniculatus (24.9%)). Neither species richness, total population size, nor the Shannon-Wiener species-diversity index (H') was significantly associated with either fragment area or perimeter length. The results also indicated no difference in species diversity between linear fragments and other-shaped fragments. The only species showing a response to edge habitat was the eastern chipmunk. We concluded that future research in Prince Edward Island National Park should assess the abilities of small mammals and their predators to use edge habitats and agricultural fields..