开垦对阿拉善荒漠啮齿动物群落功能多样性的影响

开垦会导致荒漠化的加剧,并对动物群落产生严重的影响。而功能多样性恰恰能体现环境或干扰胁迫导致的群落结构差异。但有关啮齿动物群落功能多样性的研究并不多见,为此,我们在2018至2020年的4月、7月和10月利用铗日法对开垦区和未开垦区的啮齿动物群落进行调查,选择并量化了与其营养、生活史、生理、形态及活动节律等相关的5个功能性状,以探讨开垦对啮齿动物群落组成的影响,以及性状组成和功能多样性变化。研究结果表明：(1)开垦区群落的丰富度指数、多样性指数和均匀度指数均低于未开垦区,开垦改变了啮齿动物群落性状组成;(2)阿拉善荒漠啮齿动物群落组成与蛰眠、繁殖周期和食性等功能性状显著相关;(3)开垦区春、秋季群落功能丰富度和功能均匀度高于未开垦区,各季节群落功能离散度显著高于未开垦区;而未开垦区夏季群落功能丰富度高于开垦区,秋季群落功能均匀度高于开垦区;(4)开垦区和未开垦区群落功能丰富度最高值均出现在夏季,二者在不同季节间差异较大;开垦区群落功能均匀度最高值出现在春季、功能离散度最高值出现在秋季,二者在季节间差异均较小;未开垦群落功能均匀度最高值出现在秋季、功能离散度最高值出现在夏季,二者在季节间差异均较大。上述结果说明,阿拉善荒漠区啮齿动物群落功能多样性变化与土地开垦和季节相关联,开垦会从啮齿动物群落的生态空间利用程度、资源利用、种间竞争及生态位等方面影响群落功能多样性。     

人为不同干扰条件下荒漠啮齿动物群落格局的动态特征——动物与植物群落的典型相关分析

群落的格局和动态是群落牛态学和生态系统生态学研究中的基础问题,也是揭示群落结构和功能的核心问题。为了深入了解生态系统的结构与功能,研究啮齿动物群落格局在人为不同干扰下的动态特征,特别是研究荒漠区的脆弱生态系统中啮齿动物群落格局在人为不同干扰下的动态特征,是揭示人为干扰下荒漠生态系统结构和功能变化特征的基础。2002～2004年在内蒙古阿拉善典型荒漠区,选择了4种不同干扰条件的生境,分别为禁牧区、过牧区、轮牧区和开垦区,研究了人为不同干扰下啮齿动物群落格局的变动趋势,应用典型相关方法分析了啮齿动物群落与植物群落在不同干扰条件下的相互关系。结果表明,在两种观察尺度域上（标志样地和线路样地）动物群落变量与植物群落变量的相关关系表现为：动物群落变量与植物群落变量中的草本关系最为突出,在分析的两个尺度的8个样地中,除标志样地的过牧区外,其它7个样地均与草本关系密切,且绝大多数样地动物群落变量与草本的盖度和地上生物量呈负相关关系。这说明荒漠生态系统中,在4种干扰条件下,草本的特性,特别是草本的盖度和地上生物量对啮齿动物群落格局及其动态变化起到关键作用,其值越大,啮齿动物群落组成种的丰富度（数量）和生物量就越小。就同一种干扰条件下的两种尺度域上的情况看,动物群落和植物群落的相关性较突出的特点是：在禁牧区和开垦区,喜湿的种类（黑线仓鼠和草原黄鼠）与植被的相关性显著,在轮牧区和过牧区,喜旱的种类（小毛足鼠和三趾跳鼠）与植被的相关性显著,且均与草本呈负相关关系。     

不同干扰下荒漠啮齿动物群落多样性的多尺度分析

尺度问题是生态学的核心问题。本文将荒漠啮齿动物群落主要特征参数Shannon-Wiener多样性指数作为信息,来探究其在人为干扰下对尺度变化的响应,目的是为了揭示不同干扰条件下荒漠区啮齿动物群落多样性随尺度变化的趋势,为动物群落格局—过程研究的尺度推绎提供生态学基础。2003~2008年每年7月,在内蒙古阿拉善荒漠禁牧、轮牧、过牧和开垦4种不同干扰生境中,选择了1.25hm2,2.5hm2,5hm2和10hm2等4个空间尺度,应用铗日法统计样地中的啮齿动物群落种数及各物种的捕获数据,计算Shannon-Wiener多样性指数,将其作为原始信号进行小波分解。研究结果表明：在荒漠区≤10hm2内,除过牧区外,在其他干扰类型中啮齿动物群落多样性随空间尺度增加均呈上升趋势。啮齿动物群落多样性的原始信号中存在规则的周期性干扰,这种干扰可能是由群落的年际波动造成的。在4种尺度下,各干扰区啮齿动物群落多样性除在开垦区未表现出明显周期外,其余干扰区各自均具有相同的周期：轮牧区4年,禁牧区3年,过牧区2年。荒漠区4种干扰类型中随着空间尺度的增加啮齿动物群落多样性变动幅度减小,抗干扰能力逐渐增强。但不同干扰中啮齿动物多样性的变动幅度和抗干扰能力是不同的。禁牧区与开垦区的啮齿动物多样性在≤2.5hm2范围内较易受到扰动;过牧区在≤5hm2的范围内较不稳定;轮牧区在整个10hm2范围内都易受到扰动。     

人为干扰下荒漠啮齿动物群落格局——变动趋势与敏感性反应

2002～2004年,在阿拉善荒漠区的典型地区,选择了4种不同干扰条件的样地,分别为开垦区、轮牧区、过牧区和禁牧区,在两种尺度上研究啮齿动物群落的变动趋势及其种群的敏感性反应,在每种干扰条件的地段设计了标志流放区,面积为0.95hm2,采用标志重捕法,每月连捕4d,同时在4种不同干扰条件的地区选择了4条线路取样,每条线路面积约10 km2,采用铗日法调查,分别在4、7、10月份取样.用不同干扰条件下每个群落组成种的捕获量构成变量矩阵,应用PCA（主成分分析）方法分析群落中种群对不同干扰条件的敏感性反应.结果表明,3个年度中在两个观察尺度上,啮齿动物群落的格局在4种不同的干扰条件下表现出不同特征,各个群落的组成种类和主要种类的数量均有较大差异,特别是在开垦区和过牧区两种干扰条件下啮齿动物群落的组成种类及主要种类的数量均有较大的改变.同时PCA分析结果表明,在3个年度的两种观察尺度上,啮齿动物群落中的主要种群在4种不同干扰条件下的敏感性反应具有明显的差别.在开垦区黑线仓鼠的敏感性反应最强,在禁牧区的反应也较明显;在轮牧区各鼠种的敏感性反应差别不明显,而在过牧区三趾跳鼠和小毛足鼠的反应最强.     

新疆莫索湾垦区啮齿动物群落分布与生境类型关系的研究

为探索沙漠开垦为绿洲后,啮齿动物群落的生态分布格局及变迁规律,2004年6～8月对莫索湾垦区150团场啮齿动物进行了调查.结果表明：荒漠开垦为林地,红尾沙鼠占据主导地位;开垦为农田,鼠类群落表现出较大差异：棉田中柽柳沙鼠占主导地位,麦田中小家鼠为优势鼠种,苜蓿地则以小林姬鼠为主,白菜地中灰仓鼠占据优势地位;城镇居民区“伴人”鼠种褐家鼠居于绝对优势.结论：在荒漠开垦为林地、农田和变为居民区的过程中,鼠类群落也相应地由荒漠鼠类向人工景观鼠类演变.然而对于从沙漠腹地开垦出来的绿洲,虽然人类已开垦经营了半个世纪,但啮齿动物群落的原始荒漠特征仍较完善地保存着,这与当地极端的地理特征相一致.     

基于结构方程模型分析荒漠啮齿动物优势种对不同放牧干扰的响应

放牧被认为是草地生态系统的主要干扰之一。许多研究表明,放牧影响了啮齿动物的个体条件、繁殖、种群动态、群落组成及群落多样性等多个方面。由于受传统统计学方法的限制,这些研究只是单独的对放牧作用进行假设检验,而没有将多个假设放在同一个框架内进行验证。2006—2011年,采用标志重捕法对内蒙古阿拉善荒漠区不同放牧生境中啮齿动物优势种的数量进行研究并使用结构方程建模的方法将可能影响荒漠啮齿动物优势种的环境因子(气候条件、土壤硬度、植物隐蔽、植物生物量等19个指标)与啮齿动物优势种种群动态结合后进行多假设检验,旨在找出不同放牧干扰下制约优势啮齿动物环境因子的发生途径。结果表明:气候条件对五趾跳鼠和三趾跳鼠有直接不利影响,隐蔽对于两足活动的五趾跳鼠有负效应,而对四足活动的子午沙鼠有正效应。植物生物量对五趾跳鼠有正效应,但对子午沙鼠有负效应。土壤硬度的增加间接的有利于五趾跳鼠,对子午沙鼠有直接的正效应。因此荒漠啮齿动物优势种种群动态是多个过程共同作用的结果,气候条件是驱动啮齿动物种群动态的根本原因,而放牧会因为改变植物隐蔽而影响啮齿动物在群落中的组成。     

荒漠啮齿动物群落与植物群落的对应分析

动物与其生存环境变量之间的关系一直是生态学家们广泛关注的问题.啮齿动物作为荒漠生态系统中重要的功能群,其数量大小和生态功能对生态系统的平衡和稳定具有重要意义.生境中的植被为啮齿动物提供赖以生存的食物资源和栖息地,了解啮齿动物群落与植被特征之间的关系对于理解动物群落变动规律具有重要意义.不同植被条件下啮齿动物群落的结构不同,Hernández等(2005)研究发现北美Chihuahuan荒漠的灌木生境中啮齿动物密度高于草地生境.     

黑河流域中游地区荒漠-绿洲景观区啮齿动物群落结构

2005年4–5月和9月对黑河流域中游地区荒漠-绿洲景观区不同生境中啮齿动物群落结构进行了研究。在甘肃省张掖市高台县黑泉乡选择流动沙丘、含砾沙漠、固定沙地、荒漠灌丛、防护林带、灌耕草地、灌耕农田和河岸草地等8种代表性生境,采用活捕法(4,800铗日)共捕获啮齿动物254只,隶属于3科8属9种。利用捕获记录计算了群落结构特征指数,进一步利用Pearson相关系数考察了不同生境啮齿动物群落的相似性,并在此基础上对不同生境的啮齿动物群落作了聚类分析。群落结构特征指数表明,啮齿动物物种多样性(用Shannon-Wiener指数测度)在灌耕草地中最低(0.6859),在固定沙地中最高(1.7036);物种均匀度(用Pielou均匀度指数测度)在流动沙丘中最低(0.6531),在河岸草地中最高(1.0000)。聚类分析结果显示,研究区啮齿动物群落可以分成荒漠型群落和绿洲型群落两大类。三趾跳鼠(Dipussagitta)在荒漠型生境中密度较高,总体上具有优势地位,尤其是在流动沙丘生境中占据绝对优势;黑线仓鼠(Cricetulusbarabensis)在植被较好的绿洲型生境中占据优势地位,但在流动沙丘外的其他荒漠型生境中也有发现。除五趾跳鼠(Allactagasibirica)外,其他种类的跳鼠只在荒漠型生境中发现。本次调查没有在防护林内部生境中捕获啮齿动物,但在林缘区域仍有捕获记录。啮齿动物群落物种多样性指数与捕获率间无显著关联(r=0.240,P=0.566)。本研究提示人为干扰可能对维持研究区域的啮齿动物多样性有积极意义。     

荒漠景观破碎化条件下啮齿动物群落beta 多样性变化特征

2002 ～2010 年,采用夹日法对内蒙古阿拉善荒漠区禁牧、轮牧、过牧和开垦4 种不同人为干扰生境中啮齿动物群落β 多样性进行了研究,同时分析不同生境的灌木植物群落特征来探讨人为干扰下的景观破碎化。依据人为干扰下景观破碎的情况将研究区域内生境梯度的变化按照:禁牧到轮牧、轮牧到过牧、过牧到开垦、禁牧到过牧、禁牧到开垦、轮牧到开垦进行划分,分别利用Jaccard 指数、Sorenson 指数和Cody 指数分析景观破碎化条件下啮齿动物群落β 多样性变化特征。结果表明,不同生境梯度间3 种β 多样性指数差异均显著(P <0. 05),禁牧到过牧梯度β 多样性差异最大。不同干扰生境间的灌木植物群落特征差异极显著(P < 0. 01),Shannon-Wiener 指数、Simpson 指数和物种数均表现为轮牧区> 过牧区> 禁牧区> 开垦区。环境变化程度与β 多样性变化的程度一致。人为干扰是该区域景观破碎化的主要原因,特别是放牧活动,导致环境异质性显著增加。在荒漠区,这种随环境梯度造成异质性加大而增加的β 多样性,并不是由物种增加较大导致,而是由啮齿动物群落物种组成差异和变化增大所致.     

基于陷阱法采集的河西走廊戈壁荒漠甲虫数据集

戈壁荒漠甲虫多样性对气候变化和人类活动干扰的响应十分敏感,甲虫数量、多样性及其功能性状可用于评估戈壁荒漠生态系统的健康与稳定。戈壁荒漠甲虫分布及多样性月动态变化数据积累可为荒漠生态系统动物多样性保护与维持机制研究提供数据支撑。河西走廊中部是戈壁荒漠主要分布区之一, 2012年研究组在河西走廊中部的甘肃省临泽县北部干旱荒漠国家沙化土地封禁保护区内建立了地表甲虫分布及多样性的长期监测样地。本数据主要汇集了戈壁荒漠地表甲虫物种组成、物种照片、活动节律、数量及功能性状信息数据。该数据集可用于典型荒漠甲虫种属识别、典型甲虫种功能性状比对及其时空分布格局对气候变化及人类活动扰动的响应研究。     

Conversion of sagebrush shrublands to exotic annual grasslands negatively impacts small mammal communities

Aim The exotic annual cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is fast replacing sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) communities throughout the Great Basin Desert and nearby regions in the Western United States, impacting native plant communities and altering fire regimes, which contributes to the long‐term persistence of this weedy species. The effect of this conversion on native faunal communities remains largely unexamined. We assess the impact of conversion from native perennial to exotic annual plant communities on desert rodent communities. Location Wyoming big sagebrush shrublands and nearby sites previously converted to cheatgrass‐dominated annual grasslands in the Great Basin Desert, Utah, USA. Methods At two sites in Tooele County, Utah, USA, we investigated with Sherman live trapping whether intact sagebrush vegetation and nearby converted Bromus tectorum‐dominated vegetation differed in rodent abundance, diversity and community composition. Results Rodent abundance and species richness were considerably greater in sagebrush plots than in cheatgrass‐dominated plots. Nine species were captured in sagebrush plots; five of these were also trapped in cheatgrass plots, all at lower abundances than in the sagebrush. In contrast, cheatgrass‐dominated plots had no species that were not found in sagebrush. In addition, the site that had been converted to cheatgrass longer had lower abundances of rodents than the site more recently converted to cheatgrass‐dominated plots. Despite large differences in abundances and species richness, Simpson’s D diversity and Shannon‐Wiener diversity and Brillouin evenness indices did not differ between sagebrush and cheatgrass‐dominated plots. Main conclusions This survey of rodent communities in native sagebrush and in converted cheatgrass‐dominated vegetation suggests that the abundances and community composition of rodents may be shifting, potentially at the larger spatial scale of the entire Great Basin, where cheatgrass continues to invade and dominate more landscape at a rapid rate.     

不同干扰下阿拉善荒漠啮齿动物优势种对气候变化的响应

气候变化已对物种分布范围和丰富度产生了极大的影响。荒漠生态系统对气候变化的反应可能更加敏感。作为荒漠生态系统的重要组成者,了解荒漠啮齿动物特别是优势鼠种将对气候变化如何响应,对于荒漠地区生物多样性的维持将具有重要意义。2002—2010年,采用标志重捕法对阿拉善荒漠4种不同生境下啮齿动物优势种群进行了研究,分别利用Spearman相关分析以及典范对应分析(Canonical Correspondence analysis,CCA)对啮齿动物优势种群动态与年平均温度和年降水量的相关性进行了分析。结果表明,不同啮齿动物优势种对温度和降雨的响应不同,尤其以子午沙鼠表现最为显著。跳鼠对温度的适宜性要高于仓鼠科的子午沙鼠和黑线仓鼠,而仓鼠科啮齿动物对降雨的适宜性高于跳鼠。较小尺度上的人为干扰更可能从改变食性和生境的途径上加剧或缓冲降雨对荒漠啮齿动物优势种的影响,而不是改变温度对啮齿动物的作用。     

Invertebrate community response to fire and rodent activity in the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts

Recent increases in the frequency and size of desert wildfires bring into question the impacts of fire on desert invertebrate communities. Furthermore, consumer communities can strongly impact invertebrates through predation and top‐down effects on plant community assembly. We experimentally applied burn and rodent exclusion treatments in a full factorial design at sites in both the Mojave and Great Basin deserts to examine the impact that fire and rodent consumers have on invertebrate communities. Pitfall traps were used to survey invertebrates from April through September 2016 to determine changes in abundance, richness, and diversity of invertebrate communities in response to fire and rodent treatments. Generally speaking, rodent exclusion had very little effect on invertebrate abundance or ant abundance, richness or diversity. The one exception was ant abundance, which was higher in rodent access plots than in rodent exclusion plots in June 2016, but only at the Great Basin site. Fire had little effect on the abundances of invertebrate groups at either desert site, with the exception of a negative effect on flying‐forager abundance at our Great Basin site. However, fire reduced ant species richness and Shannon's diversity at both desert sites. Fire did appear to indirectly affect ant community composition by altering plant community composition. Structural equation models suggest that fire increased invasive plant cover, which negatively impacted ant species richness and Shannon's diversity, a pattern that was consistent at both desert sites. These results suggest that invertebrate communities demonstrate some resilience to fire and invasions but increasing fire and spread of invasive due to invasive grass fire cycles may put increasing pressure on the stability of invertebrate communities.     

Impact of overgrazing on seed predation by rodents in the Thar desert,northwestern India

We compared the vegetation structure, rodent density and seed loss rate between protected and disturbed sites affected from grazing by cattle, goats and sheep, in the Thar desert of India. A perennial tussocky grassLasiurus sindicus Hent. was largely dominant in the protected site, whileL. sindicus was rare and replaced by undershrub speciesAerva pseudotomentosa Blatt. & Halb. andCrotalaria burbira Buch.-Ham. in the overgrazed site. In the grazed site, plant coverage was low, but the density of rodent burrows and the frequency of rodent captures were significantly high as compared to the protected site. Corresponding with the density of desert rodents, seed predation was significantly higher in the grazed site than in the protected site. These results suggest that overgrazing by large mammals has strong effects on plant succession by altering not only the species composition and abundance of plant community, but also the habitat suitability for seed-eating rodents.     

甘肃河西走廓不同生境中鼠类群落结构初步研究

本文对河西走廓不同生境中鼠类群落的物种组成和多样性进行了初步研究,在6种生境中进行了定量调查和采集,共获13种标本,隶于6（亚）科9属,其中古北界种类占优势。多样性分析结果表明：6种生境的物种丰富度指数RMargaler在.6139-1.9689之间。Shannon-Wiener指数（H')为1.0695-1.5607,Pielou旨数（J')和Simpson指数（D）分别为0.7242-0.9735和0．2768－0．4683,不同生境的丰富种数量（N1)变化趋势与H'相似,而非常丰富种数量（N2）的变化趋势为：半莫荒灌丛生境＞山地草原生境＞戈壁荒漠生境＞农田生境＞森林生境＞山地半荒漠灌丛生境。降水对不同生境类型中鼠类群落物种组成和多样性起直接的限制作用,同时海拔和人类干扰也是影响的因素。     

Trade-offs in community properties through time in a desert rodent community

Resource limitation represents an important constraint on ecological communities, which restricts the total abundance, biomass, and community energy flux a given community can support. However, the exact relationship among these three measures of biological activity remains unclear. Here we use a simple framework that links abundance and biomass with an energetic constraint. Under constant energetic availability, it is expected that changes in abundance and biomass can result from shifts in the distribution of individual masses. We test these predictions using long-term data from a desert rodent community. Total energy use for the community has not changed directionally for 25 years, but species composition has. As a result, the average body size has decreased by almost 50%, and average abundance has doubled. These results lend support to the idea of resource limitation on desert rodent communities and demonstrate that systems are able to maintain community energy flux in the face of environmental change, through changes in composition and structure.     

内蒙古贺兰山啮齿动物群落多样性及其与环境因子关系

啮齿动物群落结构可以反映生态环境特征。本研究对处于阿拉善荒漠区呈“孤岛”状态的内蒙古贺兰山国家级自然保护区内啮齿动物的种类、分布型及群落多样性进行系统研究。将内蒙古贺兰山划分为五种生境类型,于2013年春、夏、秋3季共布设有效铗日18748个,捕获啮齿动物235只,分属2目5科11属13种。在整体研究区域,阿拉善黄鼠（Spermophilus alashanicus）为优势种。明确了喜湿型是本研究区域的主要分布型,占捕获啮齿动物的54%,并且在中低海拔区域,随着海拔的升高,喜湿型所占比例增加。受“边缘效应”的影响,山地荒漠和荒漠草原生境以及山地草原灌丛生境的啮齿动物群落多样性指数高于其他生境,除环境因素外,啮齿动物群落的多样性受两种因素的影响,既可随群落内物种数量的增加而增大,同时又受制于群落内部物种分布的均匀程度。冗余分析结果表明,植被高度、植被盖度、灌木（乔木）高度和海拔4个环境因子是决定啮齿动物群落结构最主要的环境因子,其中植被盖度与群落多样性呈负相关,随着植被盖度的增加,多样性指数随之减低。     

The role of phylogeny in desert rodent community assembly

Recent advances in molecular genetics and phylogenetic reconstruction have the potential to transform ecology by providing new insights into the historical evolution of ecological communities. This study by Stevens and collaborators complements decades of previous research on desert rodents, by combining data from a field study and a phylogenetic tree for Mojave Desert rodents to address patterns and processes of community assembly. The number of coexisting rodent species is positively correlated, and the average phylogenetic distance among these species is negatively correlated with perennial plant species richness. As rodent species diversity increases along a gradient of increasing environmental heterogeneity, communities are composed of increasingly related species: there is a consistent pattern of phylogenetic structure from over-dispersed through random to clumped. I discuss this pattern in the light of complementary results of previous studies. This paper is noteworthy for calling attention to still unanswered questions about how the historical events of speciation, colonization, extinction, and trait evolution and their relationship to past climates and vegetation have given rise to current patterns of community organization.     

哈尔滨市主要城市绿地特征和耦合关系

采用样方法调查了哈尔滨市17块绿地的植物多样性,研究城市绿地生态系统中本土植物多样性对外来植物的影响规律。结果如下:哈尔滨市绿地有75种外来植物,外来栽培植物42种,外来非栽培植物33种。在哈尔滨市绿地植物群落中,外来栽培植物的平均盖度、平均重要值和平均出现频度均较高;外来非栽培种的平均盖度、平均重要值较低,而平均出现频度较高。绿地本土植物物种数与外来栽培种、外来非栽培种的物种数极显著正相关(P<0.01),与外来非栽培种的平均出现频度显著负相关(P<0.05)。绿地乔木层本土植物的香农威尔指数、物种丰富度与外来栽培种、外来非栽培种的物种数均显著负相关(P<0.05),乔木层本土植物的均匀度与外来非栽培种的平均出现频度极显著负相关(P<0.01);灌木层本土植物的物种丰富度与外来栽培种的平均重要值显著负相关(P<0.05);草本层本土植物的均匀度与外来非栽培种的平均相对盖度显著正相关(P<0.05)。随绿地总面积的增加,外来栽培种和外来非栽培种的物种数增加,平均出现频度均呈现显著降低的趋势。随建成时间增加,外来栽培种的平均出现频度呈非线形变化,外来非栽培种的平均出现频度呈现降低的趋势。应提高哈尔滨市绿地本土植物的多样性,严格控制新建成的、总面积较小的绿地中外来植物的引种栽培管理,以防止外来植物发展成为危害本地生态系统的入侵植物。     

Patterns in the local assembly of Egyptian rodent faunas: Areography and species combinations

We implicate ecological processes in assembly patterns of Egyptian desert rodents using spatial variation of distribution and composition of local assemblages. We also compare our assemblages to prior analyses of North American and Australian small mammal communities in terms of species richness and representation of trophic groups.We studied patterns of occurrence of 29 rodent species among 335 collecting events in 308 sites using museum specimen records resulting from a country-wide survey. The studied taxa vary greatly in their natural histories and ecology. Fully 69% of studied species (20) were localized in 30 or fewer sites (9% of all sites). Site incidence was closely correlated with the geographic range size of species, while local abundance of a species showed little relationship to its geographic range. The species richness of local assemblages ranged from a lone species at 73 sites to 11 species at 3 sites. A total of 214 different combinations were recorded of which 164 (77%) were unique to a single site. G. gerbillus was both the most abundant and most ubiquitous species. Coexistence with other species was positively correlated with incidence and geographic range size. Body mass distribution was remarkably uniform for the fauna as a whole, and influenced the geographic distributions and abundance of individual species.Our sites have low species richness and substantial variability in species composition, which also characterize desert rodent communities elsewhere. Habitat requirements, exclusive distributions of sibling species, low primary productivity, and Egypt's location all influenced species assembly. The Egyptian and Australian deserts supported higher proportions of low richness assemblages compared to North America. As in North America, Egyptian sites were dominated by granivorous species.