Jonsson P, Koskela E, Mappes T
Göteborg University, Department of Zoology, P.O. Box 463, S-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden e-mail:
Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40351 Jyväskylä, Finland, , , , , , FI.
Oecologia. 2000 Mar;122(4):487-492. doi: 10.1007/s004420050970.
Predator-prey interactions between small mammals and their avian and mammalian predators have attracted much attention. However, large-scale field experiments examining small-mammal antipredatory responses under the risk of predation by mammals are rare. As recently pointed out, the scale of experiments may cause misleading results in studies of decision-making under predation risk. We studied the effect of small mustelid predators on the spacing behaviour of the gray-tailed vole (Microtus canicaudus) and the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) in two separate field enclosure experiments. The experiments were conducted during the breeding season in North America and northern Europe, where small mustelids have been suggested to be important mammalian predators of voles. As in most of the earlier laboratory studies, predation risk was simulated using fresh mustelid faeces and urine. This made it possible to compare the results from experiments at different spatial scales. We did not find any effect of increased predation risk on spacing behaviour (mean and/or maximum distance moved and home range size) or trappability in either vole species. Simulated predation risk did not affect the breeding of females in gray-tailed voles, as has previously been shown in bank voles. The results disagree with most of the studies conducted in laboratory conditions with small mammals. We discuss whether this discrepancy could be caused by differences in the scale of the experiments.
小型哺乳动物与其鸟类和哺乳类捕食者之间的捕食者 - 猎物相互作用备受关注。然而，在哺乳动物捕食风险下检验小型哺乳动物反捕食反应的大规模野外实验却很少见。正如最近所指出的，实验规模可能会在捕食风险下的决策研究中导致误导性结果。我们在两个独立的野外围栏实验中研究了小型鼬科捕食者对灰尾田鼠（Microtus canicaudus）和棕背田鼠（Clethrionomys glareolus）空间行为的影响。实验在北美和北欧的繁殖季节进行，在那里小型鼬科动物被认为是田鼠重要的哺乳类捕食者。与大多数早期实验室研究一样，使用新鲜的鼬科动物粪便和尿液模拟捕食风险。这使得比较不同空间尺度实验的结果成为可能。我们没有发现捕食风险增加对两种田鼠的空间行为（移动的平均和/或最大距离以及家域大小）或可捕性有任何影响。模拟的捕食风险对灰尾田鼠雌性的繁殖没有影响，正如之前在棕背田鼠中所显示的那样。这些结果与大多数在实验室条件下对小型哺乳动物进行的研究不同。我们讨论了这种差异是否可能是由实验规模的不同所导致的。
