Population-ecology and reproduction in three subpopulations of the fat dormouse (Myoxus glis Linné, 1766) were studied in central Germany in the years 1992 and 1993. Animals were captured in wooden livetraps twice a month, during trapping-periods lasting three days, and marked individually by tattooing. Surprisingly, after a year with good reproductive success (1992), a total lack of reproduction was observed in all three areas in 1993. Reproductive failure coincided with an lack of food resources in fall 1993. Presumably, bad weather conditions or predictive environmental signals, such as missing flower buds in the dry spring of 1993, prevented gonadal development in males.Population-ecology and reproduction in three subpopulations of the fat dormouse (Myoxus glis Linné, 1766) were studied in central Germany in the years 1992 and 1993. Animals were captured in wooden livetraps twice a month, during trapping-periods lasting three days, and marked individually by tattooing. Surprisingly, after a year with good reproductive success (1992), a total lack of reproduction was observed in all three areas in 1993. Reproductive failure coincided with an lack of food resources in fall 1993. Presumably, bad weather conditions or predictive environmental signals, such as missing flower buds in the dry spring of 1993, prevented gonadal development in males
