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Individual growth rates in natural field vole, Microtus agrestis, populations exhibiting cyclic population dynamics

  • Population ecology - Original paper
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Abstract

Rodents that have multi-annual cycles of density are known to have flexible growth strategies, and the “Chitty effect”, whereby adults in the high-density phase of the cycle exhibit larger average body mass than during the low phase, is a well-documented feature of cyclic populations. Despite this, there have been no studies that have repeatedly monitored individual vole growth over time from all phases of a density cycle, in order to evaluate whether such variation in body size is due to differences in juvenile growth rates, differences in growth periods, or differential survival of particularly large or small voles. This study compares growth trajectories from voles during the peak, increase and crash phases of the cycle in order to evaluate whether voles are exhibiting fast or slow growth strategies. We found that although voles reach highest asymptotic weights in the peak phase and lowest asymptotes during the crash, initial growth rates were not significantly different. This suggests that voles attain larger body size during the peak phase as a result of growing for longer.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (studentship number NER/S/A/2000/03445 awarded to S. Burthe) and the Wellcome Trust (075202/Z/04/Z). The Forestry Commission provided access to sites. Gordon Brown, David Carslake, Jonathan Fairbairn, Stephanie Gebert, Lukasz Lukomski, Matt Oliver, Laura Taylor, Gill Telford, David Tidhar, Rachel Yeates and many others provided fieldwork assistance.

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Author notes

  1. Sarah Janette Burthe

    Present address: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0QB, Scotland, UK

  2. Pablo Beldomenico

    Present address: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina

  3. Andrew Smith

    Present address: School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Population Ecology and Evolution Group, Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Sarah Janette Burthe, Sandra Telfer, Pablo Beldomenico, Andrew Smith & Michael Begon

  2. Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Sarah Janette Burthe, Sandra Telfer, Pablo Beldomenico & Andrew Smith

  3. Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

    Xavier Lambin & Alex Douglas

Authors
  1. Sarah Janette Burthe
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  7. Michael Begon
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Correspondence to Sarah Janette Burthe.

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Communicated by Peter Banks.

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Burthe, S.J., Lambin, X., Telfer, S. et al. Individual growth rates in natural field vole, Microtus agrestis, populations exhibiting cyclic population dynamics. Oecologia 162, 653–661 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1495-6

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