Small terrestrial mammals (Rodentia, Eulipotyphla) of the Landes de Gascogne forest (southwestern France).

Broadleaved forest sites were only sampled after spring 2024, resulting in the following seasonal sampling effort: 35 sites in spring 2023, 36 in autumn 2023, 52 in spring 2024, and 51 in both autumn 2024 and spring 2025. Sampling sites were selected to represent a gradient of tree diversity and forest management intensity: pine edges reflect intensively managed monoculture plantations, broadleaved hedgerows serve as semi-natural structure that may enhance biodiversity within plantation matrices and broadleaved forest patches are relatively unmanaged remnants of native forest.

Live trapping was conducted using INRA live traps placed on the ground for three to four consecutive nights per site and season. A total of 669 small mammals were captured and identified. They belong to at least 6 species, among which there are four species of rodents (Muridae, Cricetidae) and two species of shrews (Soricidae).

Shrews were marked and released after capture, while most rodents were euthanized and preserved. Preserved specimens were weighted (gram) and measured (mm): both body length and tail length. In addition, external and internal sexual characteristics were also recorded.

Due to sampling restrictions limiting the number of individuals per site, some rodents were not preserved; these were marked and released, and all belonged to the same species (Apodemus sylvaticus). This dataset aims to better understand the relationship between small terrestrial mammal biodiversity and health in the context of ecological restoration, and in particular in human-modified forest ecosystems. It is part of the European BEPREP project (beprep-project.eu/), and represents data from case study no. 4.

The dataset will support analyses of small mammal community composition across habitat types, and allow for the evaluation of temporal patterns in species diversity across seasons and years.