Predicting grey-sided vole occurrence in northern Sweden at multiple spatial scales
Forestry is continually changing the habitats for many forest-dwelling species around the world. The grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) has declined since the 1970s in forests of northern Sweden. Previous studies suggested that this might partly be caused by reduced focal forest patch size due to cl...
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Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre
2013
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ftstockholmuniv:oai:DiVA.org:su-97613 2024-02-11T10:07:09+01:00 Predicting grey-sided vole occurrence in northern Sweden at multiple spatial scales Magnusson, Magnus Bergsten, Arvid Ecke, Frauke Bodin, Örjan Bodin, Lennart Hörnfeldt, Birger 2013 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-97613 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.827 eng eng Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre Ecology and Evolution, 2013, 3:13, s. 4365-4376 orcid:0000-0002-5796-7728 orcid:0000-0002-8218-1153 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-97613 doi:10.1002/ece3.827 ISI:000326824300007 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess boreal forest connectivity conservation forest patch size grey-sided vole myodes population ecology small mammals stone Ecology Ekologi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2013 ftstockholmuniv https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.827 2024-01-17T23:31:39Z Forestry is continually changing the habitats for many forest-dwelling species around the world. The grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) has declined since the 1970s in forests of northern Sweden. Previous studies suggested that this might partly be caused by reduced focal forest patch size due to clear-cutting. Proximity and access to old pine forest and that microhabitats often contains stones have also been suggested previously but never been evaluated at multiple spatial scales. In a field study in 2010–2011 in northern Sweden, we investigated whether occurrence of grey-sided voles would be higher in (1) large focal patches of >60 years old forest, (2) in patches with high connectivity to sur- rounding patches, and (3) in patches in proximity to stone fields. We trapped animals in forest patches in two study areas (V€asterbotten and Norrbotten). At each trap station, we surveyed structural microhabitat characteristics. Land- scape-scale features were investigated using satellite-based forest data combined with geological maps. Unexpectedly, the vole was almost completely absent in Norrbotten. The trap sites in Norrbotten had a considerably lower amount of stone holes compared with sites with voles in V€asterbotten. We suggest this might help to explain the absence in Norrbotten. In V€asterbotten, the distance from forest patches with voles to stone fields was significantly shorter than from patches without voles. In addition, connectivity to surrounding patches and size of the focal forest patches was indeed related to the occurrence of grey-sided voles, with connectivity being the overall best predictor. Our results support previous findings on the importance of large forest patches, but also highlight the importance of connectivity for occurrence of grey-sided voles. The results further suggest that proximity to stone fields increase habitat quality of the forests for the vole and that the presence of stone fields enhances the voles’ ability to move between nearby forest patches through the matrix Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden Norrbotten Stockholm University: Publications (DiVA) Ecology and Evolution 3 13 4365 4376 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Stockholm University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftstockholmuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
boreal forest connectivity conservation forest patch size grey-sided vole myodes population ecology small mammals stone Ecology Ekologi |
spellingShingle |
boreal forest connectivity conservation forest patch size grey-sided vole myodes population ecology small mammals stone Ecology Ekologi Magnusson, Magnus Bergsten, Arvid Ecke, Frauke Bodin, Örjan Bodin, Lennart Hörnfeldt, Birger Predicting grey-sided vole occurrence in northern Sweden at multiple spatial scales |
topic_facet |
boreal forest connectivity conservation forest patch size grey-sided vole myodes population ecology small mammals stone Ecology Ekologi |
description |
Forestry is continually changing the habitats for many forest-dwelling species around the world. The grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) has declined since the 1970s in forests of northern Sweden. Previous studies suggested that this might partly be caused by reduced focal forest patch size due to clear-cutting. Proximity and access to old pine forest and that microhabitats often contains stones have also been suggested previously but never been evaluated at multiple spatial scales. In a field study in 2010–2011 in northern Sweden, we investigated whether occurrence of grey-sided voles would be higher in (1) large focal patches of >60 years old forest, (2) in patches with high connectivity to sur- rounding patches, and (3) in patches in proximity to stone fields. We trapped animals in forest patches in two study areas (V€asterbotten and Norrbotten). At each trap station, we surveyed structural microhabitat characteristics. Land- scape-scale features were investigated using satellite-based forest data combined with geological maps. Unexpectedly, the vole was almost completely absent in Norrbotten. The trap sites in Norrbotten had a considerably lower amount of stone holes compared with sites with voles in V€asterbotten. We suggest this might help to explain the absence in Norrbotten. In V€asterbotten, the distance from forest patches with voles to stone fields was significantly shorter than from patches without voles. In addition, connectivity to surrounding patches and size of the focal forest patches was indeed related to the occurrence of grey-sided voles, with connectivity being the overall best predictor. Our results support previous findings on the importance of large forest patches, but also highlight the importance of connectivity for occurrence of grey-sided voles. The results further suggest that proximity to stone fields increase habitat quality of the forests for the vole and that the presence of stone fields enhances the voles’ ability to move between nearby forest patches through the matrix |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Magnusson, Magnus Bergsten, Arvid Ecke, Frauke Bodin, Örjan Bodin, Lennart Hörnfeldt, Birger |
author_facet |
Magnusson, Magnus Bergsten, Arvid Ecke, Frauke Bodin, Örjan Bodin, Lennart Hörnfeldt, Birger |
author_sort |
Magnusson, Magnus |
title |
Predicting grey-sided vole occurrence in northern Sweden at multiple spatial scales |
title_short |
Predicting grey-sided vole occurrence in northern Sweden at multiple spatial scales |
title_full |
Predicting grey-sided vole occurrence in northern Sweden at multiple spatial scales |
title_fullStr |
Predicting grey-sided vole occurrence in northern Sweden at multiple spatial scales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Predicting grey-sided vole occurrence in northern Sweden at multiple spatial scales |
title_sort |
predicting grey-sided vole occurrence in northern sweden at multiple spatial scales |
publisher |
Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-97613 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.827 |
genre |
Northern Sweden Norrbotten |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden Norrbotten |
op_relation |
Ecology and Evolution, 2013, 3:13, s. 4365-4376 orcid:0000-0002-5796-7728 orcid:0000-0002-8218-1153 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-97613 doi:10.1002/ece3.827 ISI:000326824300007 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.827 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
4365 |
op_container_end_page |
4376 |
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