Is space management of female meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) related to nutritive quality of plants?

Oecologia ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marie Bergeron ◽  
Richard Brunet ◽  
Louise Jodoin
Keyword(s):  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Space Management ◽  
Nutritive Quality

Experimental addition of cover lowers the perception of danger and increases reproduction in meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus)

2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (7) ◽  
pp. 463-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Dehn ◽  
R.C. Ydenberg ◽  
L.M. Dill
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Predation Rate ◽  
Cost Of Reproduction ◽  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Predation Danger ◽  
Population Consequences ◽  
Giving Up Density ◽  
Quality Of Food

Predation danger is pervasive for small mammals and is expected to select strongly for behavioural tactics that reduce the risk. In particular, since it may be considered a cost of reproduction, predation danger is expected to affect the level of reproductive effort. We test this hypothesis in a population of meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord, 1815)) under seminatural conditions in field enclosures. We manipulated the voles’ perception of predation danger by adjusting the available cover and measured giving up density (GUD) in food patches to verify that the perception of danger differed between high- and low-cover treatments. Treatments did not differ in actual predation rate, in vole density, or in the quantity or quality of food. During the experiments, we measured indices of vole reproductive effort including activity (electronic detectors), foraging intensity (fecal plates), and the number of young produced (livetrapping). Voles in the high-cover (lower danger) treatments were more active, foraged more, and produced 85% more young per female per trap period than voles in the low-cover (higher danger) treatment. We briefly discuss the population consequences of this adaptive behavioural flexibility.

Winter coexistence of voles in spruce forest: relevance of seasonal changes in aggression

1975 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 1004-1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian N. Turner ◽  
Michael R. Perrin ◽  
Stuart L. Iverson
Keyword(s):  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Meadow Vole ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Spruce Forest ◽  
Vole Population ◽  
Reproductive Condition ◽  
Interspecific Aggression ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Nonbreeding Season ◽  
Short Period

Beginning in November 1973, numerous meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) moved onto a spruce forest grid occupied by red-backed voles (Clethrionomys gapperi). A resident meadow vole population resulted, the two species coexisting until April 1974, when most meadow voles disappeared from the grid during a relatively short period. Interspecific aggression levels, as determined from voles temporarily removed from the populations and tested in paired encounters in a laboratory arena, were low during the winter, but increased when males of both species entered reproductive condition in the spring. Microtus was generally dominant in early breeding period encounters, but this dominance declined concurrently with the meadow voles' disappearance from the forest. It is argued that meadow voles did not leave the forest to breed, or because the snow cover melted, since this species will live and reproduce in forest in the absence of Clethrionomys. The results are interpreted as support for an earlier hypothesis that competitive habitat exclusion varies seasonally with reproduction-related aggression. Thus, these species apparently may coexist in either of their preferred habitats when interspecific aggression is low (the nonbreeding season), but this relationship terminates when interspecific aggression levels increase with the resumption of breeding in the spring.

Plant phenology, growth and nutritive quality of Briza maxima: Responses induced by enhanced ozone atmospheric levels and nitrogen enrichment

2011 ◽  
Vol 159 (2) ◽  
pp. 423-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Sanz ◽  
V. Bermejo ◽  
R. Muntifering ◽  
I. González-Fernández ◽  
B.S. Gimeno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Phenology ◽  
Nitrogen Enrichment ◽  
Nutritive Quality

scholarly journals The nutritive quality of cholla cactus as affected by burning.

2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J.E. Sawyer ◽  
L.A. Knox ◽  
G.B. Donart ◽  
M.K. Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Nutritive Quality
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