Footprint tunnels are effective for detecting dormouse species

Abstract

Abstract Glirids are arboreal rodents that are difficult to monitor due to their nocturnal activity and their relatively low density. We compared results from footprint tunnels with those from two other monitoring methods (nest boxes and nesting tubes) for three dormouse species in an occupancy framework. Footprint tunnels performed better than the other two methods for the hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius and the edible dormouse Glis glis , and were the only method which detected the garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus . Our findings provide evidence to support the effectiveness of footprint tunnels in monitoring the occurrence of dormouse species in comparison with other methods.

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