| Summary: | International audience In a fascinating article, Delibes-Mateos et al. (2011) pint point that small mammals such as the European rabbits, the plateau pikas, the prairie dogs have been traditionally perceived as pests and targeted for control on a very large scale despite their importance as key-stone species in their native ecosystem. This is also the case for many species of voles in Eurasia and North America (see e.g. Giraudoux and Raoul 2010). However, although a considerable number of studies have been undertaken at local and other scales to understand the mechanisms of vole population outbreaks and cycles, few of them provide basic concepts and useful elements that can be used by ecosystem managers on the scales requested. Lidicker (1995) and Barret & Peles (1999) wrote the first books providing a landscape ecology perspective to small mammal studies. During the 90s, a number of studies have shown that small mammal population management could be grounded on knowledge on the effect of landscape on population dynamics. Here we present results obtained from the long term and multi-scale study of two grassland species, Microtus arvalis and Arvicola terrestris to illustrate this approach. We describe at which scales landscape variables were found relevant to explain population dynamics and the consequences of the observed population dynamic patterns on the vertebrate community (other small mammal species and predators including species of conservation value). We argue that long term observational studies at various scales are of primary importance to understand the role of small mammals in regional ecosystems and essential to put experimental studies into relevant context. Such knowledge is critical to provide managers with useful concepts for integrated sustainable landscape management, to protect biodiversity and also for pest and disease control.
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