Rodent Diversity in Desert Wetlands of Oued Righ Region, Septentrional Sahara, Algeria

The species diversity of rodents in desert wetlands in the Oued Righ Region (Touggourt, Sahara) in Algeria was inventoried. The study was conducted in three similar wetland landscapes: Ayata, Merdjadja and Sidi Slimane. Sampling was implemented using 24 live-traps at each station based on the Random Sampling Design. The sampled species belonged to the family Muridae. The three sampled localities demonstrated differences and similarities in terms of species composition. To describe the diversity of rodent’s communities, the species richness (S), relative abundance, relative frequency and the Shannon-Weaver Index were used. In Ayata Lake, the subfamily Murinae dominated, represented by Mus musculus L., 1758 (50%) and Rattus rattus L., 1758. InMerdjadja Lake, the subfamily Gerbillinae dominated, with Gerbillus nanus Blanford, 1875 (36.67%) and G. tarabuli Thomas, 1902 (20.00%). In the Sidi Slimane Wetland, the Gerbillinae was the dominant subfamily, represented by Gerbillus tarabuli (41.17%), G. nanus Blanford, 1875 (29.41%) and G. gerbillus Olivier, 1800 (11.76%). Only one individual of Meriones libycus Lichtenstein, 1823 was captured at the Sidi Slimane Wetland.