Seasonal home ranges and activity of three rodent species in a post-fire planted stand

초록

Movement patterns of three small rodent species (striped field mouse Apodemus agrarius, n = 18; Korean field mouse A. peninsulae, n = 21; and Korean red-backed vole Myodes regulus, n = 22) were tracked by radio-telemetry to determine seasonal variation in home range size, daily distance traveled, and number of daytime resting area in a post-fire planted stand of Japanese red pine Pinus densiflora in Mt. Gumbong, Samcheok, South Korea. Home range sizes and distances traveled did not differ among the species; however, significant differences were noted in the home range sizes (analysis of variance; F = 9.24, df = 2, 6, p = 0.05) and distances traveled (Kruskal-Wallis test; H = 9.51-15.38, p = 0.05-0.01) of each species across seasons. In winter, all three measures considerably decreased for all species examined. The home range sizes of male rodents of all species were 1.4-2.2 times larger than those of female rodents. All species were primarily nocturnal; in daytime, they remained confined to their resting areas. The durations of movement negatively correlated with daytime length (Spearman correlation analysis; r = -0.41,p = 0.01, n = 2583); no differences were observed in the number of daytime resting areas among species (F = 0.81, df = 3, 6, p = 0.38). However, the numbers of daytime resting areas of three small rodents were the smallest in winter. Thus, seasonal variation is an important factor affecting small rodent movement patterns. Further long-term ecological research would help elucidate how small rodents seasonally interact and share resources in the same habitat.

키워드