Food Habits of the Deer Mouse

Williams, Olwen

doi:10.2307/1376568

Cited by 56 publications

(30 citation statements)

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“…The analysis of stomach contents was carried out microscopically following the method of Williams (1955Williams ( , 1959Williams ( , 1962. Holiiova (1959,1960,1965) and H oliśova, et al (1962).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social regulation of body temperature in the bank vole

Gębczyński¹

1969

Acta Theriol.

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Food habits of voles Clethrionomys glareolus (Schreber, 1780) and mice Apodemus flavicollis (Melchior, 1834) were studied in the beech forest in Ojców National Park near Cracow. The food preference was studied using choice test; stomach contents were microscopically analysed. In the laboratory the animals were prefering similar food to that consumed in the forest. The voles can consume variable kinds of bulky and concentrated food, while mice are eating mainly concentrated food. In the natural food of voles greens and seeds are prevailing (the average of 44 and 40% of stomach contents, respectively) the remainder being composed of invertebrates and fungi (9 and 7%). Mice in the natural habitat are consuming mostly seeds (74% of volume) and invertebrates (15°/o); much less greens and fungi (10 and 1%, respectively). In the beech forest potential food of voles is composed of herb vegetation, tree seeds and, to much smaller extent, fungi, insects, leaves, buds and tree twigs. Seeds and insects are the main food of mice. In addition some fungi and herbs are eaten. For these rodent species the food supply in beech forest was estimated to be 1,949,000 kcal/ha/year for the vole and 1,085,000 kcal/ha/year for the mouse. The food available to these rodents amounts only to 4.4% and 2.4% of the yearly primary net production of the studied forest. I. INTRODUCTIONIn the studies of energy flow through the populations of small rodents, the food consumed by these animals is usually compared with the total primary net production of ecosystem. However, the majority of ecologists studying this problem takes into consideration that food available to rodent is only a part of plant production. The energy available for rodents was defined by Grodziński (in litt.) as "the food which is easy to find and is being chosen and eaten by these animals". Consequently, it is difficult to estimate plant production "from the point of view" of a mouse or a vole; food habits of these small mammals have to be known in some detail.Such estimation is troublesome and was usually quite arbitrary. In the old--fields community all live parts of plants above the ground were considered as a food available to Microtus pennsylvanicus

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social regulation of body temperature in the bank vole

Gębczyński¹

1969

Acta Theriol.

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“…For the purpose of food identification described in the last section, "reference slides" were made earlier of potential food items from the study sites, using methods described in Williams (1959) and Hansson (1970). Vegetative plant materials were collected, identified and processed in the laboratory by softening in warm water or lactic acid.…”

Section: Food and Habitat Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most recent studies and some older ones on techniques of rodent dietary analysis, notably Williams (1959), Hansson (1971), Perrin (1980), Bar et al (1984), and Neal (1984), have used some form of microscopic method of food particle examination. Still other studies have relied on visual assessment of the composition of gut contents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A quantitative study of diet in three species of rodents in natural and irrigated savanna fields

Rabiu¹,

Rose²

1997

Acta Theriol.

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A quantitative study of diet in three species of rodents in natural and irrigated savanna fields (Wroughton, 1906) from natural, savanna fields in Nigeria, and 528 Aruicanthis and 367 Mastomys from nearby irrigated fields, where Tatera was never trapped. The materials were processed and microscopically analyzed to determine patterns of diet selection. Sites were sampled for vegetative cover and rodent food resources. More than 90% of the stomach materials could be identified to one of four categories: dicots (vegetative), monocots (vegetative), seeds, and insects. Seeds constituted approximately 50% by mass of foods consumed by all species in both sites during the rains. Mastomys (in both sites) and Tatera maintained the same levels of seed intake year around. Unlike Mastomys, the amount of seeds consumed by Aruicanthis was enhanced by irrigation. In both sites during the rains, monocots and insects made up 12-46% and 14-26% of the rodents diet respectively, but their importance diminished in the natural site during the dry seasons. Tests of MANOVA indicated significant species differences and effects of site, season and their interactions on foods selected. A few plant species dominated the vegetative cover, and dramatic differences in the quality of seasonal herbage were observed.

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“…of a variety of plants (Jameson 1952(Jameson , 1955Williams 1959;Dyke 1971), but may consume the bark of some shrub spe-…”

Section: Percent Of Living Seedlingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small Rodent Populations and Conifer Seedling Damage on a Reclaimed Area in West Central Alberta

Kennedy¹,

Penner²,

Green³

1989

The Forestry Chronicle

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Small rodent populations and conifer seedling survival were monitored on a reclaimed area in west central Alberta from September 1979 to September 1985. Although several species of cricetid rodents and shrews were captured during the live-trapping program, only meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) and deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) occurred in sufficient number to monitor annual changes in abundance. Meadow voles increased rapidly on the reclaimed area from 1979–1981, remained at high numbers until 1984, then declined sharply in 1985. Deer mice increased to moderate numbers from 1979–1981 and declined gradually until 1983. By 1984–1985, very few deer mice were present.Two species of conifer seedlings, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and white spruce (Picea glauca) were planted on the reclaimed area in 1979 and 1980. Numbers of seedlings killed or damaged by small rodents, primarily by girdling, increased sharply in 1981 and remained at high levels through to 1984. Significant correlations between the percentage of the annual mortality of seedlings attributed to small rodents or the percentage of live seedlings damaged by small rodents, and the abundance of meadow voles the previous winter, indicate that the amount of mortality and damage to seedlings in this reclamation area is in part determined by the overwintering abundance of meadow voles. This is in direct agreement with conclusions from similar studies in other areas of North America and Europe.

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Food Habits of the Deer Mouse

Cited by 56 publications

References 1 publication

Social regulation of body temperature in the bank vole

Social regulation of body temperature in the bank vole

A quantitative study of diet in three species of rodents in natural and irrigated savanna fields

Small Rodent Populations and Conifer Seedling Damage on a Reclaimed Area in West Central Alberta

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