So far, the activity of the edible dormouse at the entrances to underground caves in the Dinarides has only been studied once, and that in a year with very little food, when beech crop was very poor. The survey was therefore repeated in 2022 on the same sites (10 locations), when the beech crop was much better. In both years (2021 and 2022), the activity of the edible dormouse in the study areas between Ljubljansko barje and Krim was monitored with photo-traps that monitored the exit from the area; in both years, monitoring took place from April to November. In this study, we confirmed that the amount of food available (or the abundance of beech seed) has a significant influence on the activity of the edible dormouse. In 2021, out of a total 2,860 recorded events (at 10 locations), the edible dormouse was present at 252 events. In 2022, a total of 14,747 events were recorded at 10 sites and the edible dormouse was present at 13,325 events (recordings; almost 53 times more than in 2021). In 2022, we detected high dormouse activity even in areas where deciduous trees make up only a small proportion of the tree composition, and vice versa in 2021, when no activity was detected in areas where deciduous trees make up less than 50% of the tree species composition, and activity was slightly higher only in the area with oak trees. The high activity of the edible dormouse in 2022 has also led to an increase in the activity of its predators. In addition, in 2022, they were fairly uniformly active at the entrances to the underground caves throughout the night, whereas the year before, activity was bimodal, with a pronounced peak in the evening and before dawn.
|