Small terrestrial mammals (Rodentia and Soricomorpha) along a gradient of forest anthropisation (reserves, managed forests, urban parks) in France

• Published in: Biodiversity data journal 2022-12, Vol.10, p.e95214-18
• Main Authors: Pradel, Julien, Bouilloud, Marie, Loiseau, Anne, Piry, Sylvain, Galan, Maxime, Artige, Emmanuelle, Castel, Guillaume, Ferrero, Julien, Gallet, Romain, Thuel, Geoffrey, Vieira, Nathalie, Charbonnel, Nathalie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Biodiversity & Conservation; Body length; Botanical gardens; Climate change; community; Data Paper (Biosciences); Deciduous forests; Disease transmission; Diseases & Pests; Domestic animals; Ecology & Environmental sciences; Ecosystem services; Europe; Forest management; Forests; France; General ecology; Global Change; Green infrastructure; Habitats, Ecosystems & Natural Spaces; Infectious diseases; Landfills; Life Sciences; Mammals; Nature reserves; Parasitology; Parks; Parks & recreation areas; Public health; Rodentia; rodents; Sampling; shrews; Small mammals; Soricidae; Soricomorpha; Temperate forests; Terrestrial environments; Urban areas; Urban ecology; Urbanization; Waste disposal sites; Wildlife; Zoonoses
• ISSN: 1314-2828; 1314-2836; 1314-2828
• DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.10.e95214

Understanding the relationships between wildlife biodiversity and zoonotic infectious diseases in a changing climate is a challenging issue that scientists must address to support further policy actions. We aim at tackling this challenge by focusing on small mammal-borne diseases in temperate forests and large urban green spaces. Small mammals are important reservoirs of zoonotic agents, with a high transmission potential for humans and domestic animals. Forests and large urban green spaces are ecosystems where efforts are undertaken to preserve biodiversity. They are put forward for their contribution to human well-being in addition to other ecosystem services (e.g. provisioning and regulating services). Moreover, forests and large urban green spaces are environments where small mammals are abundant and human/domestic-wildlife interactions are plausible to occur. These environments are, therefore, focal points for conservation management and public health issues. The European Biodiversa BioRodDis project (https://www6.inrae.fr/biodiversa-bioroddis) aims at better understanding the relationships between small terrestrial mammal biodiversity and health in the context of global change and, in particular, of forest anthropisation and urbanisation. Here, we present the data gathered in France. The dataset will enable us to describe the diversity of small terrestrial mammal communities in forested areas corresponding to different levels of anthropisation and to evaluate the variability of this diversity over time, between seasons and years.The dataset contains occurrences of small terrestrial mammals (Rodentia and Soricomorpha) trapped in forested areas in eastern France (administrative Departments: Rhône, Ain, Jura). The sampling sites correspond to different degrees of anthropisation. Forests included in biological reserves are the least anthropised sites. Then, public forests and urban parks experience increasing levels of anthropisation. Data were collected during spring and autumn 2020 (three to four sampling sites), 2021 (six sampling sites) and 2022 (four sampling sites). These variations in the number of sites between years were due to lockdown restrictions in 2020 or to the legal authorisation to trap around biological reserves granted in 2021 only. The capture of animals was carried out in various types of forests (pine, deciduous, mixed) and in different habitats within urban parks (wooded areas, buildings, hay storage yards, riverside vegetation, re