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

S.J. Burthe; X. Lambin; S. Telfer; A. Douglas; P. Beldomenico; A. Smith; M. Begon

doi:10.1007/s00442-009-1495-6

Back

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

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

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

S.J. Burthe, X. Lambin, S. Telfer, A. Douglas, P. Beldomenico, A. Smith and M. Begon

Oecologia, Vol.162(3), pp.653-661

2010

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1495-6

Files and links (2)

pdf

growth_rates_in_natural_field_vole.pdfDownload View

Author’s Version Open Access

url

Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

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.

Details

Title: Individual growth rates in natural field vole, Microtus agrestis, populations exhibiting cyclic population dynamics
Authors/Creators: S.J. Burthe (Author/Creator)
X. Lambin (Author/Creator)
S. Telfer (Author/Creator)
A. Douglas (Author/Creator)
P. Beldomenico (Author/Creator)
A. Smith (Author/Creator)
M. Begon (Author/Creator)
Publication Details: Oecologia, Vol.162(3), pp.653-661
Publisher: Springer Verlag
Identifiers: 991005544739107891
Copyright: © Springer-Verlag 2009
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites

Metrics

247 File views/ downloads

67 Record Views

24 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology; 3.35.721 Rodent Ecology
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology
ESI research areas: Environment/Ecology