Circadian activity rhythms in relation to season, sex and interspecific interactions in two Mediterranean voles (original) (raw)
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Activity timing of southern water vole (Arvicola sapidus Miller, 1908) in a Mediterranean river
Galemys, Spanish Journal of Mammalogy, 2015
Knowledge of the alternation between activity and rest during the 24 h daily cycle is important in order to understand how species interact with the environment and can also provide tools for designing appropriate conservation measures. At present, little is known about this alternation in Arvicola sapidus, an endemic rodent restricted to the Iberian Peninsula and France. This study aims to extend our knowledge of this rodent’s hour to hour activity/rest patterns by using radiotelemetry to quantify the distances travelled (associated with activity) by individual southern water voles along a stretch of the Montsant River. The results showed that the southern water vole’s behaviour is cathemeral. The use of data of frequency of activity in one-hour intervals to assess the activity pattern showed a lower resolution than the use of data of the mean distances travelled in one-hour intervals. The individuals occupying a suboptimal habitat travelled a greater mean distance per hour than in...
Effect of climatic fluctuations on body mass of a Mediterranean vole, Microtus cabrerae
Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde, 2005
A population of the Iberian endemic rodent, Cabrera vole Microtus cabrerae Thomas, 1906, was monitored from April 1997 to April 1999 in monthly trapping sessions. Results suggest that low rainfall combined with high temperatures is a limiting factor for reproduction in this population. Population density (17-115 ind/ha) was lower than values recorded for most Microtus species, and similar to those recorded for certain species living in atypical habitats or for non-cyclic microtines. The total value of recruitment (55.8%) was lower than for other Microtus, attributable to the weather, litter size, monogamy, and territoriality. Persistence and residency were higher than in other species of Microtus; such values in M. cabrerae could be due to its slower rate of renewal, characteristic of the K-strategy of reproduction. Habitat patch size correlated with reproductive variables, but not with presence/absence of individuals. The minimum area to consider a patch as a source was 300 m 2 ; smaller patches showed non-continuous occupation, lower number of breeding pairs, and scarce number of young born. Habitat fragmentation at the local level, in addition to human activities in rural areas, may worsen the effects of climatic fluctuations in Cabrera vole habitats, leading to a decrease of patch size and therefore of the ability to sustain populations.
Social Behavior and Activity Patterns of Meadow Voles in Relation to Seasonal Change and Snow Cover
1981
A c t i v i t y and s o c i a l behavior o f free-ranging meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) were examined i n summer, f a l l and w i n t e r using capture-recapture and radiotelemetry. The composition o f our study population changed from predominantly reproductively-active (RA) voles i n summer and f a l l t o e n t i r e l y nonreproductively-active (NR) voles i n winter. RA males had l a r g e r a c t i v i t y areas than RA females. A c t i v i t y areas o f RA females d i d n o t overlap w i t h those o f other RA females, b u t a c t i v i t y areas o f RA males overlapped extensively w i t h those o f both RA males and RA females. However, any contact among RA voles was rare, unless females were estrous. NR voles showed greater overlap o f a c t i vi t y areas and lower l e v e l s o f a c t i v i t y than d i d RA voles. Space use and a c t i v i t y were s i m i l a r f o r NR males and females and t h e i r a c t i v i t y underwent l i t t l e seasonal change. I n winter, voles shared nests. There were few differences i n a c t i v i t y between day and n i g h t o r between crepuscular periods and t h e r e s t o f t h e day. There was some synchrony o f a c t i v i t y patterns among voles, especially w i t h i n groups sharingnests i n winter. A c t i v i t y patterns o f RA males and RA females were o u t o f phase w i t h each other. The general s h i f t from p r i m a r i l y s o l i t a r y behavior i n summer t o increased social tolerance and nest sharing i n w i n t e r i s a t l e a s t p a r t i a l l y explained by t h e corresponding seasonal change i n sexual status o f t h e population.
Seasonal and Latitudinal Variations in Circadian Rhythms of Red-Backed Vole
Circadian rhythms of two allopatric species, Clethrionomys gapperi and C . rutilus were studied near their common border at Heart Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada, in winter and spring of 1965-1966. Circadian rhythms of C . gapperi were also studied at Edmonton, Alberta, in the winter and spring of [1964][1965]. Activity was measured by recording passages through a door in cages exposed to normal meteorological conditions of the forest floor. Daily peaks of activity of each species were of longer duration and higher amplitude in spring than in winter. C . rutilus was polyphasic in winter, nocturnal in spring. C . gapperi at Heart Lake was nocturnal in winter but had peaks of activity persisting from dusk each evening to noon of the following day. C . gapperi at Edmonton was diurnal in all seasons.
Animal Biology, 2010
In this study we report the fi rst data on the spatial ecology of the Lusitanian pine vole ( Microtus lusitanicus ). Data report to the breeding season and to a traditional Mediterranean agricultural landscape in Central Portugal, using radio-telemetry methods. We documented large home range areas with values of 1042 m 2 for males and 862 m 2 for females (MCP method; 95% kernel method with values of 229 m 2 and 159 m 2 for males and females, respectively). Although no signifi cant diff erences between sexes or reproductive status were found, longer daily movements were observed in reproductively inactive males. Pair bonding and home range overlap was observed between males and females, as well as between females and sub-adults. Voles showed no distinct preference for day or night for activity periods and movements. However, this result was dependent on sex, reproductive status and time of day. Voles revealed habitat preference for both spatial scales of analysis: they selected verges, vines and olives, within the study area, and used more verges within their home ranges, when compared to the other habitat types. Th e use of space by Microtus lusitanicus, in comparison with other microtines, suggests the occurrence of spatial associations between males and females in monogamous pairs. Th e importance of verges and linear habitats within an agricultural context is apparent, once they provide food and shelter from predators and human interventions.
Ecological Factors Affecting the Diel Activity of Voles in a Multi-Species Community
Annales Zoologici Fennici, 2008
Ecological factors affecting the diel activity of rodents in a sedgeland habitat within Białowieża Primeval Forest were examined by live trapping. The results of a shortterm but intensive trapping scheme, with checks every 3 hours, confirmed known differences in activity patterns between voles and mice. We observed an even distribution of vole activity around the 24-h cycle, rather than a marked preference for nocturnal activity in summer. Ten-year data from trapping of the same rodent assemblage dominated by Microtus oeconomus showed that an increase in population density of the dominant species resulted in more diurnal activity of those voles and the co-occurring bank voles. This shift of activity seemed to result from social tensions in a crowded habitat that mostly affected young root voles, as well as individuals of subordinated species. On the other hand, increased predation pressure exerted by weasels Mustela nivalis encouraged more nocturnal activity of voles. The shift was either a direct response of local prey to increased activity of the local diurnal predator, or the ancient anti-predatory response of mammals seeking safety in darkness.
Mediterranean Pine Vole, Microtus duodecimcostatus: A Paradigm of an Opportunistic Breeder
Animals, 2021
Most mammalian species of the temperate zones of the Earth reproduce seasonally, existing a non-breeding period in which the gonads of both sexes undergo functional regression. It is widely accepted that photoperiod is the principal environmental cue controlling these seasonal changes, although several exceptions have been described in other mammalian species in which breeding depends on cues such as food or water availability. We studied the circannual reproductive cycle in males of the Mediterranean pine vole, Microtus duodecimcostatus, in the Southeastern Iberian Peninsula. Morphological, hormonal, functional, molecular and transcriptomic analyses were performed. As reported for populations of other species from the same geographic area, male voles captured in wastelands underwent seasonal testis regression in summer whereas, surprisingly, those living either in close poplar plantations or in our animal house reproduced throughout the year, showing that it is the microenvironment...
Daily activity cycle of the Water vole (Arvicola terrestris)
Journal of Zoology, 2009
The observations of Ashby, Harling & Whiles (1969) agree with the present work in that Water voles are active both by day and night. The interpretation of observational data depends for its validity on the certain identification of marked individuals, and a critical analysis of their data is impossible without knowing how many of the observed movements were made by known individuals and how many were made by unknown individuals. They state that only males were caught and dye-marked, of which five were adults and two were juveniles. It is important to know if the juveniles were established in the population, or if they were transients. The authors conclude that activity lulls at midday, although the data they publish do not support this statement.
Integrative and Comparative Biology, 1987
SYNOPSIS. Current theory and supporting data regarding population regulation and cycling in microtine rodents needs to be reviewed in light of a new, season-sensitive model of social behavior for meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus. The finding of a clear social imperative among meadow voles during most of the fall, winter and spring conflicts with the prediction of high levels of social intolerance in the higher density populations commonly existing late in the year. The general rarity of adult dispersal, except during periods of declining density in winter and early spring, and the contact-seeking nature of this dispersal, are generally contradictory to predictions based on "intrinsic" theories. Finally, published data on meadow vole reproduction, recruitment and dispersal, and hence demography, are probably biased as a result of effects produced by the spread of rodent pheromones by investigators, prolonged entrapment of individual voles, and inappropriate behavioral measures in the field.
Journal of Animal Ecology, 2006
Students of population cycles in small rodents in Fennoscandia have accumulated support for the predation hypothesis, which states that the gradient in cycle length and amplitude running from southern to northern Fennoscandia reflects the relative influence of specialist and generalist predators on vole dynamics, itself modulated by the presence of snow cover. The hypothesized role of snow cover is to isolate linked specialist predators, primarily the least weasel, Mustela n. nivalis L. and their prey, primarily field voles Microtus agrestis L., from the stabilizing influence of generalist predators. 2. The predation hypothesis does not readily account for the high amplitude and regular 3-year cycles of common voles documented in agricultural areas of western, central and eastern Europe. Such cycles are rarely mentioned in the literature pertaining to Fennoscandian cycles. 3. We consider new data on population cycles and demographic patterns of common voles Microtus arvalis Pallas in south-west France. We show that the patterns are wholly consistent with five of six patterns that characterize rodent cycles in Fennoscandia and that are satisfactorily explained by the predation hypothesis. They include the: (a) existence of cycle; (b) the occurrence of long-term changes in relative abundance and type of dynamics; (c) geographical synchrony over large areas; (d) interspecific synchrony; and (e) voles are large in the increase and peak phase and small in decline and low phase, namely. There is a striking similarity between the patterns shown by common vole populations in south-west France and those from Fennoscandian cyclic rodent populations, although the former are not consistent with a geographical extension of the latitudinal gradient south of Fennoscandia. 4. It is possible that the dominant interaction leading to multiannual rodent oscillations is different in different regions. We argue, however, that advocates of the predation hypothesis should embrace the challenge of developing a widely applicable explanation to population cycles, including justifying any limits to its applicability on ecological and not geographical grounds.