Biodiversity is often highest at ecotones. However, edge effects vary among species and the spatial extent has rarely been quantified. Rodents form an important part of the food chain and thus are keystones of the ecosystem. We measured the species richness and abundance of rodents at ecotones between forests and three types of open agricultural biotopes (grasslands, rapeseed fields, and cereal fields) along perpendicular transects. The species richness and relative abundance of rodents were highest at the forest/grassland ecotone where the densities of the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) and the striped field mouse (A. agrarius) were highest. The highest density of the forest-dwelling bank vole (Myodes glareolus) was recorded next to grasslands; however, the abundance of this species increased towards the forest interior. The positive edge effect of ecotones on species richness and total abundance did not exceed 10 m. Our results suggest that maintaining narrow grasslands at the margins of crop fields would strengthen rodent communities at ecotones as well as in adjacent forests.

交错带的生物多样性通常最高。然而，边缘效应因物种而异，空间范围很少被量化。啮齿动物是食物链的重要组成部分，因此是生态系统的基石。我们测量了森林和三种开放农业生物群落（草原、油菜田和谷类田）之间的交错带中啮齿动物的物种丰富度和丰度。啮齿动物的物种丰富度和相对丰度在森林/草原交错带最高，其中黄颈鼠（Apodemus flavicollis）和条纹田鼠（A. agrarius）的密度最高。林栖河岸田鼠（Myodes glareolus）密度最高) 记录在草地旁边；然而，该物种的丰度向森林内部增加。交错带对物种丰富度和总丰度的正边缘效应不超过10 m。我们的研究结果表明，在农田边缘保持狭窄的草原将加强交错带和邻近森林中的啮齿动物群落。