Microhabitat separation and coexistence of two temperate-zone rodents.

Abstract

Microhabitat separation of white-footed mice Peromyscus leucopus and meadow voles Microtus pennsylvanicus was analyzed within 2 macrohabitats in Point Pelee National Park, Ontario. Foliage height diversity, an important predictor of habitat separation by mice and voles in macrohabitat studies, was unimportant when the separation was analyzed within habitats. Significant microhabitat separation reflected macrohabitat preferences, but the separation was dynamic, and no single variable consistently accounted for microhabitat differences. Coexistence appears to depend upon microhabitat differences which are maintained despite frequent shifts in microhabitat use by each species.-from Author