Habitat selection in Cricetine rodent populations on maiz fields in the Pampa Region of Argentina

DE VILLAFAÑE, GLORIA; MERLER, JORGE ALBERTO; QUINTANA, RUBEN DARIO; BO, ROBERTO

MAMMALIA

WALTER DE GRUYTER & CO

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 1992 vol. 56 p. 215 - 229

0025-1461

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of habitat selection and previous agricultural land use history on the demographic characteristies of four rodents cricetine species. It was carried out through the comparison of the rodent population characteristics in two maize fields in the Buenos Aires province, Argentina. The rodent population on both fields was studied using CNIR system and several population parameters were determined. The vegetal species cover surrounding each trap station were determined. Rodents and vegetation data were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) and the derived components were compared with a lineal regression. The results showed that C. laucha was the most abundant species in one of the fields with 25 years of intensive farming activity while C. musculinus and A. azarae main species in the other field that had never been used in the last 40 years. In both cases the predominant specíes occupíed the areas wíth the híghest gramíneous cover, dísplacing the others to areas with low habitat quality. We conclude that this situation was due to the differential initial occupation of the territory in november, after plowing and sowing.