The effect of neighborhood on rodent communities. An example from Pampean agroecosystems.

LEÓN VA; BUSCH M; FRASCHINA J

Landscape research

Taylor & Francis

Año: 2017 vol. 42 p. 533 - 542

0142 6397

Pampean region agroecosystems are devoted to agricultural and farmingactivities, but in the crop field matrix there are relicts of remnant natural habitats. Poultry farms mainly harbour commensal species as house mice and rats, which are rarely present in surrounding habitats. We assessed if neighborhood to poultry farms affect the presence of Mus musculus in crop fields and their borders, and if rodent community in poultry farms is influenced by the species present in surrounding crop fields and borders. We found that habitat had a significant effect on the abundance of M.musculus. This species showed higher abundance in poultry farms than in crop field borders. Calomys laucha was the unique native species that was captured in farm sheds. We found higher abundance of native species in crop field borders than in crop fields independent of the proximity to the poultry farms. We conclude that rodent communities in poultry farms are few influenced by the surroundings, and show a dominance of M. musculus independently of the presence of native rodent species in neighbor habitats. On the other hand, farms do not export M. musculus to surrounding habitats, and borders only function as corridors for dispersal among farms, while crop fields are rarely used.