Environmental drivers of long-term variations in the abundance of the red hocicudo mouse (Oxymycterus rufus Fischer, 1814) in Pampas agroecosystems

CALFAYAN L.M.; CAVIA R; FRASCHINA, J; GUIDOBONO J.S.; GOROSITO, I.L; BUSCH M

Integrative zoology

Wiley Online library

Año: 2023

Since the 20 th century, there was an agricultural expansion and global warming, two of the maindeterminants of biodiversity changes. The red hocicudo mouse (Oxymycterus rufus Fischer, 1814)inhabits subtropical grasslands and riparian habitats, but it increased its abundance in recent years in central Argentina agroecosystems. The goals of this paper were to describe the long-term temporal changes in O. rufus abundance in Exaltación de la Cruz department, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, in relation to weather fluctuations and to landscape features, as well to analyze the spatio-temporal structure of captures. We analyzed the relation between O. rufus abundance, meteorological variables (temperature and precipitation), season, habitat type (crop-field borders and railway embankments) and distance to riparian habitats and floodplains of streams by means of Generalized Liner Models. Rodent data wasere obtained from samplings conducted by the Population Ecology Group (FCEN - UBA) between 1984 and 2014. O. rufus showed an increase in abundance across the years of along the study period,, but its distribution depended on landscape features, such as habitat types and the distance to floodplains. Capture rates Its captures showed a spatio-temporal aggregation, suggesting expansion from previously occupied sites. The effect of temperatures and precipitation depended on the season, O. rufus was more abundant with at lower minimum temperatures in summer, higher precipitation in spring and summer, and lower precipitations in winter. ClimateWeather conditions affected O. rufus abundances but therewas local variation that differed y show local variations that differ from global patterns of climatechange.