Abstract:
The study on small mammal diversity was conducted at the mangrove area of Universiti
Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). The purposes of this study are to study the diversity of
small mammals at mangrove area of UMT and also to enrich the checklist of small
mammal at mangrove area of UMT. Four times sampling (August 2006 until January
2007), with five consecutive trapping days was conducted using cage-traps. A total of 25
individuals belonging to five species of small mammal were recorded. The species were
Rattus tiomanicus jalorensis (56%), Rattus tiomanicus sabae (20%), Rattus exulans
(16%), Rattus argentiventer and Paradoxurus hermaproditus with 4% respectively. The
most dominant family was Muridae with 96% and Yiverridae with only 4%. Site 2 noted
the highest number of small mammal with 13 individuals as compared to Site I only 12
individuals. The value of Shannon Weiner index showed that Site 2 was more diverse
with 1.2854 compared to Site 1, 0.5660. Finding of two new species had enriched the
checklist of small mammals at mangrove area of UMT established by Rozleen (2004).
Changes in environmental conditions would be predicted to have profound impacts on
rodent communities.
