Habitat Use and Diet Composition of Norwegian Lemmings and Field Voles in Central Norway

Sætnan, Eli; Gjershaug, Jan Ove; Batzli, George O.

doi:10.1644/07-mamm-a-259.1

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…For example, forbs were abundant and Eriophorum absent in our study grids, whereas forbs were rare and Eriophorum abundant in habitats where tundra vole diets have been studied before [29]–[31]. Moreover, in similar habitats the closely related field voles ( Microtus agrestis ) have also been found to have diets dominated by dicotyledons [70], and in a cafeteria-test tundra voles showed a preference for forbs [71]. As Eriophorum was not included in that test, it remains unclear whether plant availability modifies only vole diets or also preferences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Arctic Small Rodents Have Diverse Diets and Flexible Food Selection

et al. 2013

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The ecology of small rodent food selection is poorly understood, as mammalian herbivore food selection theory has mainly been developed by studying ungulates. Especially, the effect of food availability on food selection in natural habitats where a range of food items are available is unknown. We studied diets and selectivity of grey-sided voles (Myodes rufocanus) and tundra voles (Microtus oeconomus), key herbivores in European tundra ecosystems, using DNA metabarcoding, a novel method enabling taxonomically detailed diet studies. In order to cover the range of food availabilities present in the wild, we employed a large-scale study design for sampling data on food availability and vole diets. Both vole species had ingested a range of plant species and selected particularly forbs and grasses. Grey-sided voles also selected ericoid shrubs and tundra voles willows. Availability of a food item rarely affected its utilization directly, although seasonal changes of diets and selection suggest that these are positively correlated with availability. Moreover, diets and selectivity were affected by availability of alternative food items. These results show that the focal sub-arctic voles have diverse diets and flexible food preferences and rarely compensate low availability of a food item with increased searching effort. Diet diversity itself is likely to be an important trait and has previously been underrated owing to methodological constraints. We suggest that the roles of alternative food item availability and search time limitations for small rodent feeding ecology should be investigated.NomenclatureAnnotated Checklist of the Panarctic Flora (PAF), Vascular plants. Available at: http://nhm2.uio.no/paf/, accessed 15.6.2012.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Arctic Small Rodents Have Diverse Diets and Flexible Food Selection

et al. 2013

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“…Seeds are indeed common in the diet of field voles, but not for lemmings (Sætnan et al. ), and it is possible that seed predation during the peak year may have contributed to lower seedling recruitment rates. Although seedling herbivory by lemmings and voles is considered to be negligible (Olofsson et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rodent population dynamics affect seedling recruitment in alpine habitats

Nystuen

Evju

Rusch

et al. 2014

J Vegetation Science

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Questions: How do rodents with cyclic population dynamics affect seedling recruitment in alpine habitats? Does disturbance from rodents have larger implications on seedling recruitment in some plant communities than in others?Location: Snowbeds and sheltered heaths in the low-alpine zone in areas of Børgefjell and Dovrefjell, Norway. Methods:We recorded seedling emergence, rodent activity and cover of mosses, lichens, litter and bare ground in 270 plots in snowbeds and sheltered heaths in a rodent population peak year and in the following low-density year.Results: Seedling recruitment was positively correlated with disturbances from lemmings and voles in both years. More seedlings emerged in the low-density year than in the year of the population peak. Snowbeds had higher seedling recruitment than the sheltered heaths, but both habitats were equally affected by disturbances from rodents.Conclusions: Rodent activity created gaps and increased seedling emergence in these alpine plant communities, particularly in the year after the rodent peak, both in snowbeds and sheltered heath habitats. Our study therefore suggests that regeneration patterns in alpine vegetation are tightly linked to the population cycles of lemmings and voles, which peak in density at 3-to 5-yr intervals.

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“…Moreover, some species of rodents are difficult to trap alive, such as Norwegian lemmings ( Lemmus lemmus ; Saetnan et al. ). For all these reasons, researchers often rely on alternative methods, most of which provide only indices of abundance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of invasive and non‐invasive methods to monitor rodent abundance in the Arctic

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Monitoring rodent abundance is critical to understand direct and indirect trophic interactions in most northern terrestrial ecosystems. However, logistic constraints can prevent researchers from using capture-mark-recapture methods, a robust approach to estimate abundance. Our objective was to determine the correlation between abundance estimates of Arctic lemmings obtained from live-trapping data with spatially explicit capture-recapture models (SECR; N/ha) and abundance indices obtained from snap-trapping along trap lines (N/100 trap-nights), winter nest sampling along transects with distance sampling models (N/ha), burrow counting within quadrats (N/100 m 2 ), and incidental observations (N/100 observer-hr). We also evaluated the impact of reduced sampling effort on the bias and precision of each abundance estimate. Data from brown (Lemmus trimucronatus) and collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus) were collected each year from 2007 to 2016 on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada. Snap-trapping (r = 0.90) and incidental observations (r = 0.92) yielded the highest correlations with live-trapping densities for brown lemmings, the most abundant species. When combining abundance of both lemming species, snap-trapping (r = 0.77) and incidental observations (r = 0.90) also yielded the highest correlations. Indices from winter nests and burrows were also correlated (r > 0.50) with live-trapping densities, but to a lesser degree. We found that bias generally increased when effort was reduced for methods involving modeling of capture or detection probabilities (i.e., live-trapping, winter nests), but remained low for the other methods. In contrast, precision of estimates remained high when using SECR models, but decreased substantially for the other methods during years of low lemming abundance. Non-convergence of SECR and distance sampling models generally increased when reducing effort and was frequent in years of low lemming abundance. Interestingly, collecting >200 h of incidental observations generated highly reliable estimates of lemming abundance compared to results from live-trapping, indicating that such non-invasive method can provide valuable data at low cost. We provide guidelines on other invasive or non-invasive methods that can be used when small mammals cannot be live-trapped and suggest the effort required to achieve a given precision.

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Habitat Use and Diet Composition of Norwegian Lemmings and Field Voles in Central Norway

Cited by 15 publications

References 20 publications

Arctic Small Rodents Have Diverse Diets and Flexible Food Selection

Arctic Small Rodents Have Diverse Diets and Flexible Food Selection

Rodent population dynamics affect seedling recruitment in alpine habitats

Evaluation of invasive and non‐invasive methods to monitor rodent abundance in the Arctic

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