Road verges as habitat for small mammals in Britain

Abstract

There are 370 000 kilometres of roads in Great Britain, mostly bordered by a verge that is potential habitat for small mammals. The present study assessed the importance of road verges as small mammal habitat and investigated the influence of some key features on rodent abundance. Five rodent and three shrew species were live‐trapped on 14 road verges in late summer 1994 and nine verges in autumn 1996 in north Cambridgeshire, UK. On average, between three and four species were captured per verge. Bank Voles Clethrionomys glareolus, Wood Mice Apodemus sylvaticus and Field Voles Microtus agrestis were the most abundant species, with mean densities of 45.5, 40.2 and 29.5 animals km–1 in summer and 52.8, 181.9 and 47.2 animals km–1 in autumn. Numbers varied between verges and this was significantly correlated with particular features on the verge. Bank Vole and Field Vole numbers showed a significant positive correlation with the dimensions of hedges and the width of the tall grass area, respectively. Wood Mice were also more numerous on verges with big hedges but the relationship between mouse abundance and verge structure was complex. The number of mice in 1994 was positively and significantly correlated with hedge features and with the width of the short grass sightline, whereas, in autumn 1996, they were only significantly correlated with total verge width (positive association) and ditch width (negative association).

The Conservation Value of Hedgerows for Small Mammals in Prince Edward Island, Canada

“…while they were similar in isolated hedges. Further, not only woody structures but also marginal habitats, such as road verges (Bellamy et al 2000, Broughton et al 2014, as well as other factors such as habitat configuration in terms of habitat linearity (Tattersall et al 2002) seem to be important for the occurrence of habitat specialists possibly leading to non-significant effects of isolation in our study. The higher abundance of forest specialists in forest edges than in hedges, was mainly driven by M. glareolus, which was the most abundant, predominant forest specialist and in all but one study site (in one of the isolated hedges).…”

“…A high level of microhabitat complexity through high shrub diversity, high vegetation cover and low percentage of ground covered by bare-soil provide refuges from predators and are known to increase overall small mammal abundance and species richness (Gelling et al 2007, Silva andPrince 2008). Additionally, increasing hedge width increases the amount and quality of the habitat and thereby may positively affect small mammal abundance of forest specialists as well as habitat generalists (Gelling et al 2007, but see Bellamy et al 2000).…”

Greener transport infrastructure – IENE 2014 International Conference

“…If managed appropriately, such habitats can sustain a variety of plant and animal life, including several endangered species, that may otherwise not be able to survive in the surrounding landscape (Vermeulen 1994, Bellamy et al 2000, Milton et al 2015. Spooner (2015) reviews the importance of roadsides for biodiversity and for producing ecosystem services in anthropogenic landscapes, using minor road networks in rural Australia as an example.…”

Environmental variables and reproductive activity in small rodents of pampean agroecosystems

“…According to the habitat suitability concept, individuals will have a greater fitness in habitats of higher quality than in poorer habitats (Sutherland 1997 ). The former habitats may contain potential resources for long-term survival and reproduction as well (Fauske et al 1997, Bellamy et al 2000.…”