Addressing phase of population cycle and spatial scale is key to understand vole abundance in crop field margins: Implications for managing a cyclic pest species

• Published in: Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
• Main Authors: Planillo, Aimara, Viñuela, Javier, Malo, Juan E., García, Jesús T., Acebes, Pablo, Santamaría, Ana Eugenia, Domínguez, Julio C., Olea, Pedro P.
• Other Authors: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (España), European Commission, Fundación BBVA, Comunidad de Madrid, Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2023
• Subjects: Common vole; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/334197; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2022.108306

In simplified agricultural landscapes, some rodent species such as the common vole (Microtus arvalis) can reach high abundances and become agricultural pests. Crop field margins are a key structural element and, therefore, expected to play a key role in vole abundance, even within the demographic cycles that govern vole population dynamics. Here, we aim to identify i) the margin variables that determine vole population response, and ii) at which spatial scale this response can be identified and, therefore, managed. We sampled vole abundance in field margins in two replicated areas of north-western Spain during five years, including all population phases. Environmental variables related to vegetation structure, nearby crops and presence of streams or ditches were extracted at two different spatial scales: a precise small spatial scale -“trapping point” scale-, which referred to the exact location of the traps, and a broader spatial scale -“margin” scale-, that referred to the average values across the whole margin length. Using linear mixed models, we analysed the effects of the environmental variables at both spatial scales during the vole population cycle phases. The broad spatial scale accounted better for vole abundance response, being the latter dependent on the population cycle phase. The stronger effect of environmental variables consisted on vegetation structure effects during the peak phase. In this phase, margins with high cover and short vegetation promote high vole abundances, whilst margins with less cover and taller vegetation, usually associated with higher stability in margins, were related to lower peak abundances. No clear effect of nearby crops was detected in our models, when all variables were accounted for. Our results suggest that keeping stable and well vegetated field margins leads to lower abundance within crop field margins during the population outbreaks, and that any successful management strategy should be addressed to the full extent of the field margin, instead of more localized ...