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

Forest specialist and generalist small mammals in forest edges and hedges

“…In our study decreasing percentage of bare ground was positively associated with the abundance of forest specialists, but had no influence on any other group. This is in line with other studies showing small mammals' preferences for habitats with low amount of bare ground and dense cover of herbaceous vegetation (Mazurkiewicz 1994, Ouin et al 2000, Silva and Prince 2008, mostly interpreted as antipredatory behaviour by small mammals. Thereby, not only dense cover of herbaceous vegetation and litter, but also dense shrub layers of hedges and forest edges may protect small mammals from predators (Jedrzejewska and Jedrzejewski 1990, Longland and Price 1991, Weber 2008.…”

“…Myodes glareolus (bank vole) and Apodemus sylvaticus (longtailed field mouse, wood mouse), are often positively affected by large size of forest patches, high connectivity of patches of old forest and structural heterogeneity of the forest floor (Fitzgibbon 1997, Vieira et al 2009, Mortelliti et al 2011. However, studies analysing the impact of forest patch isolation in agricultural landscapes on small mammals were often conducted in forests or forest patches, but not in smaller woody landscape elements such as hedges (but see Michel et al 2006, Gelling et al 2007, Silva and Prince 2008 and did not take species specific habitat specialisation into account (but see Yahner 1983, Bentley et al 2000, Tattersall et al 2002. Small mammals show distinct habitat specialisation and can be classified into forest and open land specialists and habitat generalists, each responding differently to changes in landscape complexity (Gentili et al 2014).…”

“…1) (cf. Silva and Prince 2008). In case of connected hedges starting point of trap lines was 5 m away from forest edges.…”

The effects of conventional and organic cropping systems on food and reproductive success of Song Sparrows in eastern Ontario farmland

“…Thomas et al 1991;Thomas and Marshall 1999;Varchola and Dunn 2001;Meek et al 2002;Brickie and Peach 2004;Grubler et al 2008, Chapter 5). My work expands previous work on the importance of hedgerows to ecological interactions in farmland in North America (Shalaway 1985, Best et al 1995, reviewed by Mineau and McLaughlin 1996, Jobin et al 2001, Maisonneuve et al 2001, Varchola and Dunn 2001, Silva and Prince 2008, Kirk et al 2011) by providing evidence for the role of hedgerows as foraging habitat as well as nesting habitat for farmland birds. This is actually an advantage to farm managers, if hedgerows can be managed to provide both nesting and foraging habitat for birds, with minimal change to farm operations in the adjacent fields.…”

“…In addition, nest survival was not affected by the availability of semi-natural foraging habitat close to the nest. Zanette et al (2006B) found that supplemental food increases nest survival in Song Sparrows, presumably because fed adults spend less time foraging, and more time attending and defending the nest (Rastogi et al 2006 , Best et al 1995, reviewed by Mineau and McLaughlin 1996, Jobin et al 2001, Maisonneuve et al 2001, Varchola and Dunn 2001, Silva and Prince 2008, Kirk et al 2011. Simply recommending hedgerow conservation however, is not enough.…”