ECOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SMALL MAMMALS AND AGE OF COPPICE IN AN OAK-MIXED FOREST IN CENTRAL ITALY

The small mammal community composition was studied in relation to the length of rotation cycle in a oak-mixed coppice woodland in central It aly. Apodemus sylvaticus was the far commonest species in the area, fo llowed by Clethrionomys glareolus and A. flavicollis. This latter spec ies occurred almost exclusively in mature and old wood plots (age > 12 years), and its ecological distribution appeared rather complementary to that of A. sylvaticus, a potential competitor. Shrews were found m ainly in young wood plots (age < 6 years). There were significant seas onal variations in the abundance of the various small mammal species. The abundance of the various species was positively (A. flavicollis, C . glareolus, Rattus rattus) or inversely (A. sylvaticus and Crocidura sp.) correlated to wood age. Multivariate analyses divided quite well the various wood age plots by means of small mammal species occurrence , and A. flavicollis was the species giving the greatest relative cont ribution to discrimination. The conservation implications of our data for the types of forest management normally practised in the Italian p eninsula are also briefly discussed.