Spatial and temporal patterns of an irrupting population of deer mice

Abstract

We assessed the spatial and temporal pattern and scale of an irruption by a population of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) in the summer of 1997 in New Brunswick, Canada. We tested the prediction that spatial scales finer than the extent of the irruption would not reveal domains of population growth. Increases in the abundance of mice were seen across an extensive set of study grids (separated by >15 linear kilometers); however, growth rates were autocorrelated spatially over short distances (<300 m). The extensive irruption may have been a result of finer-scale irruptions occurring simultaneously.