CHANGES IN RODENT COMMUNITIES AS CONSEQUENCE OF URBANIZATION AND INAPPROPRIATE WASTE MANAGEMENT

E. BUZAN
2017 Applied Ecology and Environmental Research  
One of the unpleasant byproducts of urban living is municipal solid waste. Unfortunately, many urban areas cannot effectively manage their waste, which causes creation of illegal waste sites. We investigated communities of small mammals from 14 illegal waste sites in Mediterranean Slovenia and Croatia. Five species of the family Muridae were recorded: black rat (Rattus rattus), domestic mouse (Mus musculus), wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius), and
more » ... cked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis). Black rats and house mice, the two commensal species, were exclusively found or prevalent in larger waste sites, while the other three Apodemus species were most frequent in natural or seminatural habitats (> 90% specimens). At large waste sites and in the human settlements, commensal species evidently outnumber the three native Apodemus species (<25% of specimens). Our results show that improper waste management drives the native rodents to local extinction and replacing them with invasive commensal species, thereby reducing biodiversity and ecosystem health. We conclude that higher rates of parasitism and infestation with different pathogens in waste sites, especially those in the close proximity of human settlements can raise the possibility of transferring the pathogens and parasites either to the people or their predators.
doi:10.15666/aeer/1501_573588 fatcat:pekxg6jdlnadjmhmrt23imvsli