TROPICS Vol. 16 (1) Issued January 31, 2007 Fruit visitation patterns of small mammals on the forest floor in a tropical seasonal forest of Thailand 1 2, 3 1 3 3 3 Shunsuke SUZUKI , Shumpei KITAMURA , Masahiro KON , Pilai POONSWAD , Phitaya CHUAILUA , Kamol PLONGMAI , Takakazu 2, 4 1 5 6 YUMOTO , Naohiko NOMA , Tamaki MARUHASHI and Prawat WOHANDEE 1 School of Environmental Science, The University of Shiga Prefecture, Hikone, 522−8533, Japan 2 Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Kamitanakami-Hirano, Otsu, 520−2113, Japan 3 Thailand Hornbill Project, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand 4 Research Institute of Humanity and Nature, 457-7, Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto, 602−0878, Japan 5 Department of Human and Culture, Musashi University, Nerima, Tokyo 176−8534, Japan 6 National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok 10900, Thailand Correspondence address: Shunsuke SUZUKI Tel: +81−749−28−8311, Fax: +81−749−28−8477, E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT The fruit visitation patterns of small birds, (Harrison, 1962; Miura et al. 1997), including mammals were investigated by camera trappings small mammals (Robinson et al. 1995; Wu et al. 1996; on the forest floor in a tropical seasonal forest of Yasuda et al. 2003; Pardini, 2004). The species richness Thailand. A total of 3,165 visits were recorded for and abundance of small mammals in tropical forests can seven small mammal species. The four Muridae be attributed to affluent food resources, especially the species, Rattus remotus, Niviventer fulvescens, abundant fruit crops (Fleming, 1973; August, 1983; Wells Leopoldamys sabanus and Maxomys surifer , all et al.