Drivers of Microtus arvalis population dynamics : lessons from a 17 year time series.

• Main Authors: Giraudoux, Patrick, Villette, Petra, Quéré, Jean-Pierre, Damange, Jean-Pierre, Delattre, Pierre
• Other Authors: Laboratoire Chrono-environnement - CNRS - UBFC (UMR 6249) (LCE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Franche-Comté (UFC), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC), Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (UMR CBGP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: population dynamics; decline phase; common vole; microtus; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDV.EE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment; Common vole; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01861696; https://doi.org/10.5073/jka.2018.459.000

International audience Common vole population dynamics appear to be strongly correlated to landscape configuration. In comparing time series of vole populations in various regions of France, Delattre et al. (1992) reported a variety of patterns, ranging from low density populations prone to local extinction in intensively tilled homogeneous agricultural landscapes, to multi-annual large-amplitude variations of population densities in permanent grassland landscapes. These observations support the Trophic ROMPA (Ratio of optimal to marginal patch habitat) Integrated Model (TRIM) outlined by Lidicker (2000), which combines the exploitation ecosystems hypothesis (Oksanen and Oksanen 2000) with the effect of spatial arrangements of habitats on vole dispersal and predator communities. In landscape of high productivity and large proportion of optimal habitat Lidicker (2000)'s TRIM and Delattre et al. (1992) conceptual models predict that (1) vole population dynamics will be driven mostly by extrinsic rather than by intrinsic factors. In practice, population dynamic features, except for seasonality (reproduction stop in winter) should not be driven by reproduction variation; (2). population peaks will last longer and at the extreme tend to produce larger amplitude fluctuations with only seasonal variations and no cyclicity.In this presentation, we consider a 17 year (1979-1996) time series of M. arvalis population fluctuations in eastern France, in a landscape where the ratio of permanent grassland in farmland is near 100%. We show that: (1) large multiannual population variations (> 5 years) and long (multi-annual) high density peaks (hundreds ind./ha) can be observed with no delayed density dependence (thus no cyclicity); (2) meteorological conditions have a delayed and direct impact on reproduction parameters but not on population dynamics and (3) population declines in Spring and Summer are not explained by reproduction variations, hence explained by mortality increase. This corroborates Lidicker and Delattre’s ...