Corridor use by small mammals: field measurement for three experimental types ofPeromyscus leucopus
✍ Scribed by Gray Merriam; Alain Lanoue
- Book ID
- 104634740
- Publisher
- Springer
- Year
- 1990
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 975 KB
- Volume
- 4
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0921-2973
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Eighteen mice of each of 3 types were radio-tagged and released at 6 standard points in farmland fencerows. Mice were residents (trapped on site) or translocated from distant forest or from distant corn fields. Of total (net) distance moved, most was in fencerows; 77% for residents, 83% for mice translocated from cropland and 92% for mice translocated from forest. Structurally complex fencerows were preferred significantly over intermediate or simple structures by all types of mice. Time spent in movement was not a linear function of distance moved and averaged from 12.5 to 16.5% of total available activity time. Total distance moved in 2 nights averaged 287 to 422 m and area explored averaged 0.67 to 1.15 ha and ranged to 11.0 ha; both exceed literature values for this species in forest. This enlarged scale of landscape use illustrates the potential importance of landscape-specific behaviour. The measurement of rate of corridor use also is discussed.