CHANGING SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS IN A POPULATION OF APODEMUS SYLVATICUS WITH THE ONSET OF BREEDING

Few small mammal ecologists would dispute the validity of the home range concept, but the biological details embodied in this concept have been the elusive subject of study for the past forty or more years. A great deal is now known about how home range size varies with species and season (Miller 1958; Getz 1961; Brown 1969; Mazurkiewicz 1971; Maza, French & Aschwanden 1973; and many more), but much less is known about the biological reasons underlying these size variations, which Sanderson (1966) stressed as being the next focus of study. Of particular relevance to this problem are the spatial relationships between individuals in a population. Just as the behavioural interactions between individuals vary during the year (Healey 1967; Turner & Iverson 1973), so will the spatial organization in response to the changing living requirements. Martinsen (1968) showed that for chipmunks the differential use of the total home range area changed greatly in response to reproductive and food demands. The results presented in this paper reveal that the activities of the majority of woodmice (Apodemus sylvaticus Linnaeus) in a woodland habitat are centred on distinct home range areas which show significant changes at the onset of breeding to alter the spatial relationships within the population as a whole.

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