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Factors affecting woodland rodent growth
Author(s) -
Brouard M. J.,
Knowles S. C. L.,
Dressen S.,
Coulson T.,
Malo A. F.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0952-8369
DOI - 10.1111/jzo.12822
Subject(s) - apodemus , biology , wood mouse , sympatry , rodent , woodland , clethrionomys glareolus , ecology , population density , bank vole , population , zoology , muridae , sympatric speciation , demography , sociology
Very little information exists on the growth rates of woodland rodents and the drivers of body size dynamics that are observed in British populations. In this study, we use mark–recapture data collected on two species living in sympatry, wood mice ( Apodemus sylvaticus ) and bank voles ( Myodes glareolus ). A third species of rodent, the yellow‐necked mouse ( Apodemus flavicollis ) was also caught occasionally. We found the density of this third species negatively impacted the growth rate of both wood mice and bank voles. No impact of conspecific population density on growth for either species was found. Previous studies have suggested high conspecific population density can impact growth for some individuals of the population, but our populations may have not reached the densities required to elucidate these effects during the study.