Advances in Diversity and Conservation of Terrestrial Small Mammals.

Materials from this study confirm that, despite Lithuania being considered part of the Northern Zone for selecting relevant small mammal species in higher tier risk assessments, the small mammal community structure is more closely related to that of central or eastern Europe. Conversely, larger colony sizes with high breeding numbers have negative impacts on the small mammal community, such as lower species richness, diversity, and relative abundance, as well as poorer body condition index among individual small mammals. Consequently, in Lithuania, the common vole dominates in both orchards and natural habitats, making it the most relevant small mammal species for higher tier risk assessment. [Extracted from the article]