Geographical ecology of gerbilline rodents in sand dune habitats of Israel.

In Israeli sand dune habitats, 9 species of granivorous rodents are found, 8 of which belong to the family Gerbillidae. As the amount of rainfall increased, so did the number of species and their equivalent biomass, but once a certain amount of rainfall was reached, an additional increase in rainfall was followed by a decrease in species number and biomass. Mean annual rainfall was similarly correlated with % annual cover, an index of the size of the seed crop on which the rodents feed. Number of rodent species was also significantly correlated with area of the sand dune habitats.-from Authors