Abstract
The hypothesis that dispersal causes the cyclic fluctuations of small mammals is perhaps the oldest hypothesis in small mammal ecology, dating from the last century. If lemmings really do march to the sea to drown, we have a perfect form of altruistic population control through dispersal-caused mortality. Unfortunately, neither lemmings nor other voles do such dramatic things, and thus very early in research on cyclic small mammals the dispersal hypothesis was rejected (Elton, 1942).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abramsky, Z. and Tracy, C.R. (1979) Population biology of a ‘noncycling’ population of prairie voles and a hypothesis on the role of migration in regulating microtine cycles. Ecology, 60, 349–61.
Beacham, T.D. (1980) Dispersal during population fluctuations of the vole, Microtus townsendii. Journal of Animal Ecology, 49, 867–77.
Beacham, T.D. (1981) Some demographic aspects of dispersers in fluctuating populations of the vole Microtus townsendii. Oikos, 36, 273–80.
Boonstra, R. and Krebs, C.J. (1977) A fencing experiment on a high-density population of Microtus townsendii. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 55, 1166–75.
Chitty, D. and Southern, H.N. (eds) (1954) Control of Rats and Mice, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Cockburn, A. (1985) Does dispersal increase as populations expand? Oikos, 44, 367–8.
Desy, E.A. and Thompson, C.F. (1983) Effects of supplemental food on a Microtus pennsylvanicus population in central Illinois. Journal of Animal Ecology, 52, 127–40.
Dobson, F.S. (1981) An experimental examination of an artificial dispersal sink. Journal of Mammalogy, 62, 74–81.
Elton, C. (1942) Voles, Mice and Lemmings, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Finerty, J.P. (1980) The Population Ecology of Cycles in Small Mammals, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Ford, R.G. and Pitelka, F.A. (1984) Resource limitation in populations of the California vole. Ecology, 65, 122–36.
Gaines, M.S. and McClenaghan, L.R. (1980) Dispersal in small mammals. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 11, 163–96.
Gaines, M.S., Vivas, A.M. and Baker, C.L. (1979) An experimental analysis of dispersal in fluctuating vole populations: demographic parameters. Ecology, 60, 814–28.
Hansson, L. and Henttonen, H. (1985) Regional differences in cyclicity and reproduction in Clethrionomys species: are they related? Annales Zoologica Fennici, 22, 277–88.
Henttonen, H., McGuire, A.D. and Hansson, L. (1985) Comparisons of amplitudes and frequencies (spectral analyses) of density variation in long-term data sets of Clethrionomys species. Annales Zoologica Fennici, 22, 221–7.
Hilborn, R. and Krebs, C.J. (1976) Fates of disappearing individuals in fluctuating populations of Microtus townsendii. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 54, 1507–18.
Hurlbert, S.H. (1984) Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecological Monographs, 54, 187–211.
Krebs, C.J. and Boonstra, R. (1978) Demography of the spring decline in populations of the vole Microtus townsendii. Journal of Animal Ecology, 47, 1007–15.
Krebs, C.J., Keller, B.L. and Tamarin, R.H. (1969) Microtus population biology: demographic changes in fluctuating populations of M. ochrogaster and M. pennsylvanicus in southern Indiana. Ecology, 50, 587–607.
Krebs, C.J., Wingate, I., LeDuc, J. et al. (1976) Microtus population biology: dispersal in fluctuating populations of M. townsendii. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 54, 79–95.
Lidicker, W.Z. (1975) The role of dispersal in the demography of small mammals, in Small Mammals: their productivity and population dynamics (eds F.B. Golley, K. Petrusewicz and L. Ryszkowski), Cambridge University Press, London, pp. 103–28.
Lidicker, W.Z. Jr (1985) Dispersal, in Biology of New World Microtus (ed. R.H. Tamarin), American Society of Mammalogists, Special Publication No. 8, pp. 420–54.
Madison, D.M. (1980) Space use and social structure in meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus. Behavioural Ecology Sociobiology, 7, 65–71.
McClenaghan, L.R. and Gaines, M.S. (1976) Density-dependent dispersal in Sigmodon: a critique, Journal of Mammalogy, 57, 758–9.
McMahon, T.E. and Tash, J.C. (1988) Experimental analysis of the role of emigration in population regulation of desert pupfish. Ecology, 63, 1871–83.
Moss, R. and Watson, A. (1985) Adaptive value of spacing behaviour in population cycles of red grouse and other animals, in Behavioural Ecology (eds R.M. Sibley and R.H. Smith), Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 275–94.
Myers, J. and Krebs, C. (1971) Genetic, behavioural, and reproductive attributes of dispersing field voles Microtus pennsylvanicus and Microtus ochrogaster. Ecological Monographs, 41, 53–78.
Nabagło, L. (1981) Demographic processes in a confined population of the common vole Microtus arvalis. Acta Theriologica, 26, 163–83.
Pokki, J. (1981) Distribution, demography and dispersal of the field vole, Microtus agrestis (L.), in the Tvärminne archipelago, Finland. Acta Zoologica Fennica, 164, 1–48.
Sherman, P.W. (1981) Kinship, demography, and Belding’s ground squirrel nepotism. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, 8, 251–9.
Stenseth, N.C. (1983) Causes and consequences of dispersal in small mammals, in The Ecology of Animal Movement (eds I.R. Swingland and P.J. Greenwood), Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 63–101.
Taitt, M.J. and Krebs, C.J. (1985) Population dynamics and cycles, in Biology of New World Microtus (ed. R.H. Tamarin), American Society of Mammalogists, Special Publication No. 8, pp. 567–620.
Tamarin, R.H., Sheridan, M. and Levy, C.K. (1983) Determining matrilineal kinship in natural populations of rodents using radionuclides. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 61, 271–4.
Tamarin, R.H., Reich, L.M. and Moyer, C.A. (1984) Meadow vole cycles within fences. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 62, 1796–804.
Verner, L. and Getz, L.L. (1985) Significance of dispersal in fluctuating populations of Microtus ochrogaster and M. pennsylvanicus. Journal of Mammalogy, 66, 338–47.
Warkowska-Dratnal, H. and Stenseth, N.C. (1985) Dispersal and the microtine cycle: comparison of two hypotheses. Oecologia, 65, 468–77.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Krebs, C.J. (1992). The role of dispersal in cyclic rodent populations. In: Stenseth, N.C., Lidicker, W.Z. (eds) Animal Dispersal. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2338-9_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2338-9_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5033-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-2338-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive