The effect of forest road on bank vole and yellow-necked mouse populations

Abstract

Movements of bank voles Clethrionomys glareolus (Schreber, 1780) and yellow-necked mice Apodemus flavicollis (Melchior, 1834) across forest road were studied. Bank vole population on both sides of the road was characterized and returns of individuals of this species, experimentally translocated to the other side of the road and into the forest, were analyzed. The studies were carried out with the use of the CMR method, on an area of 1.6 ha situated along the forest road, on both its sides. It was found that the road did not restrict or limit the movement of mice, but it did so in the case of voles. No differences in the density, sex ratio and sexual activity, as well as in the mean body weight for bank voles inhabiting opposite sides of the road were found. The animals which had been translocated into the forest returned to the previous place quicker and in greater numbers than those translocated to the other side of the road. Among the animals returning from the forest, males were predominant at first, then the females. Among those returning from the other side of the road the situation was reversed. It was suggested that restrictions of bank vole movements resulted from the species behaviour rather than the inability to cross the road.