Individual Range, Dispersion and Dispersal in a Population of Water Voles (Arvicola terrestris (L.))

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. British Ecological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Animal Ecology. INTRODUCTIONThis paper reports part of an investigation into the biology of the water vole, Arvicola terrestrist (Rodentia: Microtinae) in east Aberdeenshire, Scotland, carried out between October 1965 and June 1968.Water voles are microtine rodents weighing, when adult, up to 300 g. Mostly they are secretive animals moving silently, usually through thick vegetation. The preferred habitat appears to be stream banks, although examples are known of water voles living several miles from water (Gilbert White letter X to Pennant). They are strictly herbivorous, and while the main diet consists of grasses and other wild monocotyledons, herbs are sometimes eaten (Holi'sova' 1965). Perry (1943) noted that the breeding season in Britain lasts from the end of March to the latter half of September, but he found fecund animals in February. Females have a polyoestrous cycle, and the average number of embryos in utero is 5-7. There is a post-partum oestrus, and animals failing to become pregnant during it enter a lactation anoestrus. By the end of September the females have passed from a lactation anoestrus to a winter anoestrus without further ovulation. Perry found that animals born early in the season breed later that season, but that observation was not conclusively borne out by the present study. Young from early litters survive better than those from late litters, and juveniles of the year can be distinguished with certainty from adults by their weight, and by the matt quality of their pelage. First-winter and secondwinter voles can be distinguished by weight, but not with absolute certainty. Little is known about the social structure of populations, but a spatial organization is apparent, and is perhaps based on the social ranking of the members of the population. The spatial organization of the group, once established, remains constant for many months (Stoddart 1968), and there appears to be no periodic change of habitat, as occurs in the truly continential part of its distribution range (Varshavskii 1937; Zverev 1928; Myllymaiki 1959). STUDY AREAThe study area chosen for this investigation was the Sands of Forvie National Nature Reserve in east Aberdeenshire (G.R. 0227)-a little-used grouse moor of 705 ha situated on the east coast of Scotland about 20 km north of Aberdeen (Fig. 1). A small 'y'-shaped stream system on the east of the Reserve had long been known to support a population of water voles, and was chosen for study because of its relative isolation from human interference, its isolation from other areas inhabited by water voles, and its freedom from t ...

Male hosts drive infracommunity structure of ectoparasites

“…Gender diVerences in spatial behavior are well documented for the majority of these rodent species. For example, larger and more overlapping home ranges and/or higher mobility of males as compared with females have been repeatedly reported for A. amphibius (Stoddart 1970), M. glareolus (Korn 1986), M. agrestis (Pusenius and Viitala 1993), M. oeconomus (Andreassen et al 1998), and A. Xavicollis (Stradiotto et al 2009). …”

Techniques for trapping and tracking stoats (Mustela erminea); a review, and a new system

“…Lord et al (1970) used a square white tile coated on one half with a mixture of printing ink and mineral spirits, but again the prints were not permanent, and furthermore the medium had a strong odour and had to be removed for re-setting by washing in petrol. Nearly all other methods of 'tracking' use remote sensing devices, either electrical (e.g., Marten 1972a, Taylor 1975 or involving the implanting of foreign materials into the bodies of animals (e.g., as by Kulik et al 1967, Stoddart 1970, Randolph 1973, rather than recording of footprints, and are therefore outside the scope of this review.…”

“…The stoat has all these characteristics, so indirect methods are necessary. Some of, these, e.g., radio telemetry and radio-isotopic tagging, though highly informative (Gerell 1970, Stoddart 1970, Erlinge & Widen 1975, are complicated (permits and hazard precautions), selective (not applicable to the whole of a population at once or to all species), and generally not suitable without advanced technical support.…”

Metapopulation genetic structure in the water vole, Arvicola terrestris, in NE Scotland

“…A. terrestris exists in discrete colonies arrayed along the linear and branching structure of rivers and tributaries (Stoddart, 1970;Lawton & Woodroffe, 199 1). Metapopulation structure does not appear to be a consequence of the recent decline of the species that has occurred over most of Britain (Strachan & Jefferies, 1993) because a similar population structure exists in areas of northern Scotland where the species has not declined (X.…”