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Savazza S, Bartolommei P, Gasperini S, Bonacchi A, Manzo E, Cozzolino R. Should I Stay or Should I Go? Seasonal Fluctuations of Wood Mouse Populations in Fields Surrounded by Woodlands. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:2017. [PMID: 37370527 PMCID: PMC10295659 DOI: 10.3390/ani13122017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus is common in woodlands and open areas of the Western Palearctic. Despite extensive research, little is known about its population ecology in fields in the Mediterranean area, where the climate involves great seasonal changes in environmental features. Here, we investigated wood mice seasonal fluctuations in the number of captures and population structure by sampling long-fallow fields and woodlands, i.e., oak forest and conifer plantation, in a heterogeneous landscape of central Italy. Mice were live-trapped every two months for three years (23.814 trap-days). The number of captures, mice body weight, and proportion of adult, residents and breeding individuals were analyzed. Mice dynamics changed across seasons and habitats. In fields, we recorded more captures, more reproductive individuals, and fewer non-adults and resident individuals in the warmer months compared to the colder months; mice were heavier in warmer months. During the cold season, the captures and adult proportion in fields were lower than in resource-rich woodlands. Breeding and non-resident mice were more abundant in fields than in woodlands in warmer months. Overall, the seasonal demographic variations we recorded provide evidence that fields can represent a suboptimal habitat in Mediterranean heterogeneous landscapes, acting nonetheless as a source of food resources, cover, and mates for mice in spring-summer.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Paola Bartolommei
- Fondazione Ethoikos, Convento dell’Osservanza snc, Radicondoli, 53030 Siena, Italy
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Jenő J. Purger, Szép D, Purger TJ, Purger D, Lanszki Z, Kurucz K. Effects of Small Mammals on Broods of Ground Nesting Passerines in Alfalfa Fields. CONTEMP PROBL ECOL+ 2022. [DOI: 10.1134/s1995425522040084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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González del Portillo D, Arroyo B, Morales MB. The adequacy of alfalfa crops as an Agri-Environmental Scheme: a review of agronomic benefits and effects on biodiversity. J Nat Conserv 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jnc.2022.126253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
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Santamaría AE, Olea PP, Viñuela J, García JT. Spatial and seasonal variation in occupation and abundance of common vole burrows in highly disturbed agricultural ecosystems. EUR J WILDLIFE RES 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10344-019-1286-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Navarro-Castilla Á, Barja I. Stressful living in lower-quality habitats? Body mass, feeding behavior and physiological stress levels in wild wood mouse populations. Integr Zool 2019; 14:114-126. [PMID: 30019837 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Wild populations are continuously subjected to changes in environmental factors that pose different challenges. Body condition and hormones have been commonly used as health indicators due to their potential correlation with fitness. In the present study, we analyzed whether habitats of different quality influenced body mass, food intake and physiological stress levels in wild wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). Field work was seasonally carried out in Holm oak woods and pine forests in central Spain. A total of 93 wood mice from 4 different populations (2 per habitat type) were live-trapped. From each captured individual we noted body mass and food intake, measured as the amount of bait remaining in each trap. The physiological stress levels were measured non-invasively in collected fresh feces by quantifying fecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM) with a 5a-pregnane-3ß,11ß, 21-triol-20-one enzyme immunoassay. Wood mice abundances decreased from spring to summer, were higher in Holm oak woods than in pine forests and also resulted in different age-class distribution between both habitats. Individuals inhabiting pine forests showed a lower body mass and increased food intake, probably because of the comparatively lower food quality and availability in this habitat. Furthermore, these individuals showed increased physiological stress levels, likely due to the lower quality habitat in relation to both food and vegetation cover availability. Overall, besides affecting local wood mouse abundance, our study underscores the effect of habitat quality on body mass, food intake and the endocrine stress response. Considering the wood mouse's pivotal position in ecosystems, these results could help in the understanding of environmental traits hampering the viability of wild populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Álvaro Navarro-Castilla
- Department of Biology, Unit of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain
| | - Isabel Barja
- Department of Biology, Unit of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain
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Schlötelburg A, Jakob G, Bellingrath-Kimura S, Jacob J. Natural bait additives improve trapping success of common voles, Microtus arvalis. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2018.08.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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Eva J, Marta H, Ladislav C. Rodent food quality and its relation to crops and other environmental and population parameters in an agricultural landscape. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2016; 562:164-169. [PMID: 27099997 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2016] [Revised: 03/22/2016] [Accepted: 03/22/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The diet, its quality and quantity considerably influence population parameters of rodents. In this study, we used NIRS methods for estimation of nitrogen content in stomachs of rodent populations. The study was carried out in diverse arable landscape in South Moravia, Czech Republic. Rodents were sampled in cultural crops (alfalfa, barley, wheat, sunflower, maize and rape) as well as in fallow habitats (herbal set-aside and old orchard). Influence of habitat, date, year, individual parameters (body length, sex, breeding and age), and relative abundance on quality of consumed food was studied. Under conditions of higher population density, dominant species [wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) and common vole (Microtus arvalis)] consumed food richer in nitrogen. Also the strong effect of crop and date (season) was found in both species. There was no significant effect of the other parameters studied on food quality (N-content).
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Affiliation(s)
- Janova Eva
- Department of Animal Genetics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho 1-3, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic; Ceitec VFU, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho 1-3, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Heroldova Marta
- Institute of Forest Ecology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Zemedelska 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Cepelka Ladislav
- Institute of Forest Ecology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Zemedelska 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
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Jareño D, Viñuela J, Luque-Larena JJ, Arroyo L, Arroyo B, Mougeot F. Factors associated with the colonization of agricultural areas by common voles Microtus arvalis in NW Spain. Biol Invasions 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10530-015-0877-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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Wilson AC, Fenton B, Malloch G, Boag B, Hubbard S, Begg GS. Coexisting small mammals display contrasting strategies for tolerating instability in arable habitat. EUR J WILDLIFE RES 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s10344-014-0852-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Barraquand F, Pinot A, Yoccoz NG, Bretagnolle V. Overcompensation and phase effects in a cyclic common vole population: between first and second-order cycles. J Anim Ecol 2014; 83:1367-78. [PMID: 24905436 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2013] [Accepted: 05/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Population cycles in voles are often thought to be generated by one-year delayed density dependence on the annual population growth rate. In common voles, however, it has been suggested by Turchin (2003) that some populations exhibit first-order cycles, resulting from strong overcompensation (i.e. carrying capacity overshoots in peak years, with only an effect of the current year abundance on annual growth rates). We focus on a common vole (Microtus arvalis) population from western France that exhibits 3-year cycles. Several overcompensating nonlinear models for populations dynamics are fitted to the data, notably those of Hassell, and Maynard-Smith and Slatkin. Overcompensating direct density dependence (DD) provides a satisfactory description of winter crashes, and one-year delayed density dependence is not responsible for the crashes, thus these are not classical second-order cycles. A phase-driven modulation of direct density dependence maintains a low-phase, explaining why the cycles last three years instead of two. Our analyses suggest that some of this phase dependence can be expressed as one-year delayed DD, but phase dependence provides a better description. Hence, modelling suggests that cycles in this population are first-order cycles with a low phase after peaks, rather than fully second-order cycles. However, based on the popular log-linear second-order autoregressive model, we would conclude only that negative delayed density dependence exists. The additive structure of this model cannot show when delayed DD occurs (here, during lows rather than peaks). Our analyses thus call into question the automated use of second-order log-linear models, and suggests that more attention should be given to non-(log)linear models when studying cyclic populations. From a biological viewpoint, the fast crashes through overcompensation that we found suggest they might be caused by parasites or food rather than predators, though predators might have a role in maintaining the low phase and spatial synchrony.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric Barraquand
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS, Beauvoir-sur-Niort, France.,Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Adrien Pinot
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS, Beauvoir-sur-Niort, France.,VetAgro Sup, Campus agronomique de Clermont, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Nigel G Yoccoz
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway
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