Food and feeding habits of rodents in a deciduous forest

Abstract

The food habits of small rodents, A. flavicollis and C. glareolus, dominating in a Tilio-Carpinetum deciduous forest in the Niepoło-micka Forest near Kraków, were studied in 1967—1969. Two methods were employed: stomach content analysis and food test preference. Al-together 376 stomachs were analysed. Seeds (62—90%) were most often found in the stomachs of mice, while green plant, fungi, invertebrates and fruits constituted only a small proportion parts. In voles, seeds con-stituted 19 to 55%, green plant parts 38 to 65%, fruits 9 to 20%, inverte-brates 2.5 to 16% and fungi 8 to 12% of the stomach content volume. Voles consumed both seeds and the green parts of herb layer plants, while the mice ate mainly seeds. Changes in food habits of mice and voles were observed in various seasons in relation to the occurrence of natural food in the forest. Knowing the primary net production of the deciduous forest, it was calculated that the food available for voles con-stitutes 6.8 to 16.9%, and for mice 0.9 to 11.7% of this value. It was con-cluded that the abundance of a given type of food does not determine its choice by rodents, but that this depends mainly on food habits of the animals.