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1 July 2016 Seasonal home ranges and activity of three rodent species in a post-fire planted stand
Eun-Jae Lee, Shin-Jae Rhim
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Abstract

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.

Eun-Jae Lee and Shin-Jae Rhim "Seasonal home ranges and activity of three rodent species in a post-fire planted stand," Folia Zoologica 65(2), 101-106, (1 July 2016). https://doi.org/10.25225/fozo.v65.i2.a5.2016
Received: 7 September 2015; Accepted: 1 February 2016; Published: 1 July 2016
KEYWORDS
habitat
home range
movement
resting area
rodent
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