Agricultural Influences on Movement Patterns of White-Footed Mice (Peromyscus leucopus)

Influence of Latitude on the Winter Abundance of Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) and American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) in Illinois

“…)-alfalfa (Medicago lucerne) rotation (Walk et al 2010). Such a shift to intensive row crop practices likely reduced rodent populations (e.g., Cummings and Vessey 1994), which suggests that prey abundance was not the major determinant of Redtailed Hawk and American Kestrel abundance. Currently, agricultural practices in Illinois are undergoing profound changes through the expansion of row crops (especially corn) at the expense of Conservation Reserve Program and other grasslands (Meehan et al 2010), and the use of genetically modified crops that may actually allow for more intensive use of pesticides (Benbrook 2012).…”

Annual changes in structural complexity of understory vegetation and relative abundance ofPeromyscus leucopus in fragmented habitats

“…Our es ti mate of rel a tive abun dance is based on the total num ber of in di vid u als cap tured (ie, to tal marked in divid u als, not in clud ing re cap tures) per 500 trap-nights in each patch dur ing each year (eg, Cummings andVessey 1994, Diaz et al 1999; Ta ble 1). Slade and Blair (2000) pro vide ev i dence that es ti mates of pop u la tion den sity based on the num ber of in di vid u als cap tured are pro portional to rel a tive abun dance es ti mates based on mark-re capture meth ods.…”

Annual Variation in Habitat Use by White-footed Mice, <em>Peromyscus leucopus</em>: The Effects of Forest Patch Size, Edge and Surrounding Vegetation Type

“…Currently, there are conflicting reports about the effects of edge habitat on the abundance and distribution of White-footed Mice (e.g., Cummings and Vessey 1994;Anderson et al 2003;Wolf and Batzli 2004). We found that P. leucopus were recaptured in the same proportion in forest edge compared to forest interior habitat in either year.…”

“…This is in contrast to studies that have found that P. leucopus tend to avoid grassy habitats and can be found in corn fields at densities as high as those in woodlots (Getz 1961;M'Closkey and Lajoie 1975;Merriam 1979, 1990). Mice in our study sites may have simply responded to the seasonal presence of cover and not to the type of cover (Cummings and Vessey 1994). Henein et al (1998) designed a simulation model illustrating flexible and opportunistic responses of P. leucopus to landscape structure and connectivity via an expansion of their use of corn and small grain fields.…”

“…Some investigators have reported greater densities of Peromyscus spp. near edges (Cummings and Vessey 1994;Boyne and Hobson 1998;Manson et al 1999) (Cummings and Vessey 1994;Anderson et al 2003). In contrast, others have found fewer mice and lower maternal survival and litter success in edge habitats, presumably because parasitism, predation and interspecific competition can be higher along edges (Matter et al 1996;Morris and Davidson 2000;Batzli 2001, 2004).…”