Small mammals are not only pests but also an important part of agricultural ecosystems. The common vole is a reference species for risk assessment of plant protection products in the European Union, but no data about the suitability of the species in the Baltic countries are present so far. Using the snap-trap line method, we evaluated species composition, abundance, and diversity of small mammal communities in commercial orchards and berry plantations in Lithuania, testing the predictions that (i) compared with other habitats, small mammal diversity in fruit farms is low, and (ii) the common vole is the dominant species. The diversity of small mammals was compared with control habitats and the results of investigations in other habitats. Out of ten small mammal species registered, the most dominant were common vole and striped field mouse. Small mammal diversity and abundance increased in autumn and decreased in line with the intensity of agricultural practices but were not dependent on crop type. In the most intensively cultivated fruit farms, small mammals were not found. The diversity of small mammal communities in fruit farms was significantly higher than in crop fields and exceeded the diversities found in most types of forests except those in rapid succession.

Meadows in river deltas are characterized by a high diversity and abundance of small mammals. However, neither their spatial arrangement nor differences in their use of microhabitat can necessarily explain the dense co‐occurrence of sympatric species. We investigated how several small mammal species share a seasonally flooded meadow of limited size, testing predictions (P1) that herbivore, granivore, insectivore, and omnivore species are separated in time (dominant in different years), (P2) that sympatric species undergo isotopic partitioning, and (P3) that there are intraspecific differences in diet. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures in the hair of seven synantropic shrew, vole, and mice species were used as a proxy for their diet. We found that the three most abundant species in eight of the nine years were from different diet groups. However, based on the number of species in the functional groups, the state of small mammal community was considered unfavored in five out of the nine investigation years. In years with the greatest dominance of Apodemus agrarius , the small mammal community was characterized by decreased diversity and Micromys minutus was either in low abundance or absent. In 2014 and 2016, years of low abundance or absence of M. oeconomus , M. agrestis, and M. glareolus were both recorded in high numbers. Differences in the isotopic signatures of the three most abundant small mammal species in the community were clearly expressed and core areas in the isotopic space were separated, showing their dependence on different dietary resources. Intraspecific dietary separation between young and adult animals was observed only in M. oeconomus . Thus, the high species diversity of small mammals and the formation of their community in this investigated flooded meadow are maintained by isotopic partitioning (segregation in dietary space) and by changes in their number over time (shifting dominance).

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The influence of the annual spring floods on small mammal communities was studied in the Nemunas River Delta, SW Lithuania. The aim of the investigation was to compare the diversity of small mammals inhabiting springflooded meadows, meadows not subjected to flooding and spring-flooded forest in years characterized by differing heights and durations of spring flood. In the years of the high flood, the number of species and diversity index were higher, while index of dominance was less than in the years of low flood. Significantly, the highest proportions of Apodemus agrarius were recorded in spring-flooded meadows in years of high flood (41.7%), while Microtus oeconomus occurred in the highest proportions in spring-flooded meadows in years of low flood (66.8%) and in meadows not subjected to flooding (47.1%). In non-flooded areas, M. oeconomus is not expelled by the floods and outcompetes other species. After high levels of flooding, during the process of re-population, the voles may be outcompeted by A. agrarius. In the absence of dominant species, greater opportunities existed for the establishment of more species (13 species in flooded meadows). Micromys minutus accounted for up to 19.5-30.1% in the years of high flood. We concluded that the annual spring floods in the Nemunas Delta had no long-term negative effects, the number of small mammal species and their abundance had been restored in just a few months. The worst consequences of the high flood were recorded in forest habitat. Spring floods, and especially the higher floods, are natural environmental agents, maintaining the high diversity of small mammals in meadows and reed-beds.

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Background: With farmland afforestation becoming common policy in many European Union countries, we studied how early forest succession (from meadow to young stand) influences small mammal species composition, diversity, abundance and biomass. Despite numerous investigations into forest succession, almost no attention has been given to the small mammal community change in the early-successional forest ecosystems, starting with the pre-forest habitat and ending with stand formation and the establishment of tree dominance. We compared small mammal communities in meadows at the initial stage of regrowth (with saplings less than 10 cm in height), in young forest (5-10 years old) and more advanced forest (15-20 years) in both cases of human-induced forest succession, where the trees had been planted, and natural forest succession, where natural regrowth of meadows had occurred.

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