Arable habitat use by wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). 1. Macrohabitat

Abstract

Wood mice Apodemus sylvaticus were radio-tracked in an area covering three cereal ®elds, which was notionally divided into 565 m squares; each of these squares was classi®ed to one of four habitat types (hedgerow, wheat, barley and oil-seed rape). From a sample of 79 radio-tracked wood mice, yielding 8500 ®xes, we de®ned home-range boundaries and estimated for two seasons: (a) the extent to which each habitat was present in each individual's home range relative to its overall availability in the surrounding landscape; (b) the extent to which each habitat was used by the mice relative to its abundance within a home range. Hedgerow ranked highest in preference (as distinct from use) for all comparisons made in both winter and summer. In winter, home ranges contained signi®cantly more hedgerow than barley and wheat, and signi®cantly more rape than wheat. Animals also used the habitats within their home ranges non-randomly, with a signi®cant preference for hedgerow. In summer, home ranges contained signi®cantly less rape than other habitats. Habitats within home ranges were used at random. Seasonal patterns in habitat use appeared to be largely a response to seasonal disturbance and the availability of cover in the ®elds.

Biodiversity value of urban hedges

“…It is thought that wood mice colonise hedges with direct connection with woodland and numbers decrease in hedges with distance from areas of woodland, however this was not found in the study by Pollard and Relton (1970). Surrounding vegetation also impacts the abundance and diversity of species within a hedge, when vegetation is sparse wood mice can be found less frequently (Todd, Tew and Macdonald, 2000) even though wood mice move freely into vegetation on either side of hedges. Bank voles, however, will only stray from the hedge bottom if adjacent vegetation is dense and are probably more reliant on woody vegetation for survival (Pollard and Relton, 1970).…”

“…Appropriate management of hawthorn hedges to facilitate haw production due to the abundance of hawthorn hedges in the urban green infrastructure resource would greatly increase the sources of food available for urban birds during the winter months (Hinsley and Bellamy, 2000;Croxton and Sparks, 2002) Sensitive management on either side of a hedge (sometimes known as a buffer zone) is also key to the biodiversity provision (Barr and Gillespie, 2000;Dover and Sparks, 2000;Hinsley and Bellamy, 2000;Todd, Tew and Macdonald, 2000;Staley et al, 2016;Graham et al, 2018).…”

“…When vegetation is sparse some species can be found less frequently and some species will only stray from the hedge bottom if adjacent vegetation is dense (Pollard and Relton, 1970) or tall (Todd, Tew and Macdonald, 2000).…”

“…invertebrates (Peng, Sutton and Fletcher, 1992;Merckx et al, 2009;Garratt et al, 2017;Goodwin, Keep and Leather, 2017), bats (Boughey et al, 2011), small mammals (Todd, Tew and Macdonald, 2000), and birds (Newton, 2017) through food production and forage for insects, and the providsion of shelter (Merckx et al, 2009). Tree seed was thought to provide a major food resource for wood mice during the winter and may provide a reason for some species to move from the hedges to use the resources in the surrounding landscape (Todd, Tew and Macdonald, 2000). Management should increase the density and variation of age structure of hedgerow trees (Merckx et al, 2009).…”

“…Tree seed was thought to provide a major food resource for wood mice during the winter and collecting these seeds may provide a reason for some species to move from the hedges. Mice and other small mammals suffer greatly from aerial predators in open habitats and would therefore be less likely to stray from the protection of hedges if vegetation on either side of the hedge is not dense or tall (Todd, Tew and Macdonald, 2000). However, there is research by Tew (1994) which shows that hedges may also be prime habitat or hunting grounds for weasels who predate small mammals.…”