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Vole population dynamics: factors affecting peak densities and amplitudes of annual population fluctuations ofMicrotus pennsylvanicus

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Abstract

We studied factors affecting peak densities and amplitudes of fluctuation during 20 annual population fluctuations ofMicrotus pennsylvanicus Ord, 1815 in alfalfa and bluegrass habitats over a 25-year period. Survival was correlated with population density over the 25 years and was the most consistent variable associated with stoppage of population growth. Although not correlated with population density over the 25 years, a decline in the proportion of reproductively active adult females contributed to cessation of growth of population fluctuations that peaked in late autumn-winter, and to cessation of growth of eight of eleven population fluctuations that peaked during summer-early autumn. We conclude variation in survival to be the primary factor affecting peak densities and amplitudes of population fluctuation ofM. pennsylvanicus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Biology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., 61801, Urbana, IL, USA

    Lowell L. Getz

  2. Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, 110 Newins-Ziegler Hall, 32611, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Madan K. Oli

  3. Illinois Natural History Survey, 1816 S. Oak St., 61820, Champaign, IL, USA

    Joyce E. Hofmann

  4. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Corson Hall, 14853, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Betty McGuire

Authors
  1. Lowell L. Getz
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  2. Madan K. Oli
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  3. Joyce E. Hofmann
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  4. Betty McGuire
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Correspondence to Lowell L. Getz.

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Associate editor was Joseph F. Merritt.

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Getz, L.L., Oli, M.K., Hofmann, J.E. et al. Vole population dynamics: factors affecting peak densities and amplitudes of annual population fluctuations ofMicrotus pennsylvanicus . Acta Theriol 52, 159–170 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03194211

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03194211

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