Abstract: Rodent community structure is influenced by the environment and responds to environmental changes. To clarify the temporal and spatial variations of rodent diversity and its relationship with environmental factors in Yaoluoping National Nature Reserve, surveys on rodent communities were conducted in different seasons and habitats from August 2022 to July 2023. We examined differences in rodent community structures across different seasons and habitats using α and β diversity, trend extrapolation, non-metric multidimensional scaling, and cluster analysis. The mantel test, redundancy analysis, and variance partitioning analysis were used to decipher the impacts of environmental factors on rodent community structure. A total of 310 rodents were trapped, belonging to one order, two families, five genera, and seven species. The species diversity was highest in autumn. Spatially, rodent diversity followed a “mid-peak pattern”. Diversity indices were higher in shrubbery, tea plantation, and broadleaved forests compared to farmlands and needleleaved forests. However, there were no significant differences in rodent species composition across different seasons (r=0.032, P>0.05), but significant differences across habitats (r=0.464, P<0.01), with two distinct clustering groups of broadleaved forests vs. needleleaved forests, and shrubs vs. tea plantations. The annual range of temperature difference, slope, vegetation height, and distance from human disturbance were the main environmental factors affecting the changes in rodent community structure. Energy, environmental stability, habitat heterogeneity and human disturbance together explained 36.37% of the variation in rodent community. Among them, habitat heterogeneity had the highest explanation degree (28.71%). Our results can provide a reference for the research and management strategy formulation of rodent community diversity in the reserve.

Key words: rodent community, season dynamics, habitat, environmental factor, Yaoluoping National Nature Reserve