Abstracts - Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft

148 Ecology PostersP EC.20 - ENA new kind of hair trap for non-invasive genetic studies of small cryptic mammalsTobias E. Reiners, Karin Nadrowski, Volkmar WoltersDepartment of Animal Ecology, Justus-Liebig-University GießenDue to both ethical and scientific reasons, non-invasive techniques of tissue sampling enjoy increasingpopularity. Hair traps are often used for this purpose, although they may harvest hair with onlylittle tissue for genetic sampling. Here we present an optimized hair trap using movable parts to extracthairs together with their bulbs. This hair trap is extraordinary by low price and easy application,with a high gain of genetic material. In addition the glue containing component is also fast and easyreplaceable and therefore samples can be directly conserved for further analysis. We demonstrate theusefulness of this trap on the endangered common hamster (Cricetus cricetus). Populations of thisspecies suffered from dramatic declines in the last decades, resulting in a status as one of the mostendangered mammals in Germany. In a pilot study we were able to amplify species specific microsatellitesout of hair sample extracts produced with several different extraction methods. This kind oftrap seems to be fully sufficient for population genetic studies on a large spatial scale and may alsofind usage for monitoring of other small mammals.P EC.21 - ENHabitat dependent survival and reproduction in the edible dormouse (Glis glis)Claudia Bieber, Thomas RufResearch Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, AustriaWe studied flexibility of life history tactics, in terms of habitat-dependent survival and reproduction,in a pulsed resource consumer, the edible dormouse (Glis glis). We compared capture-mark-recapturedata from three subpopulations of dormice: one in a homogeneous beech forest (Forest) withunpredictable occurrence of high food availability (beech mast), and two in patches of woodland(Grove/Hedge), with more constant but less energy-rich food availability (e.g. cherries and otherfruits), over a period of five years. The general seasonal pattern of hibernation and reproduction wassimilar in all three subpopulations. Only in three out of five years, paralleled by the occurrence ofbeech masts, juveniles were born at all study sites. Reproductive output (number of juveniles/female)was lower at the two sites with low seed tree abundance (Grove: 1.3; Hedge: 2.0) than in theForest (4.4). Yearly survival probability of adults was lower in the Forest (0.57) than in the areasGrove and Hedge (0.83). Despite their shortened lifespan, estimated lifetime reproductive success offemales in the Forest was higher (6.2 young) than in the areas Grove/Hedge (4.8 young). Together,these data indicate that dormice increase longevity as a trade-off for lower reproductive investmentin more constant habitats (Grove/Hedge). However, in this highly specialized pulsed resource consumer,lifetime reproductive success is apparently maximised by a ‘sit tight’ strategy that synchronizesreproduction with seed pulses in deciduous forests.