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. 2022 Dec 23;12(1):22226.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-26779-7.

Variations in home range and core area of red-backed voles (Myodes regulus) in response to various ecological factors

Jae-Kang Lee  1 , Tae-Kyung Eom  1 , Dong-Ho Lee  1 , Hyeongyu Ko  1 , Shin-Jae Rhim  2
Affiliations

Variations in home range and core area of red-backed voles (Myodes regulus) in response to various ecological factors

Jae-Kang Lee et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The characteristics of animal distribution are determined by interactions between the resource requirements of animals and ecological factors. This study sought to evaluate the effects of diverse ecological factors on the home range and core area of red-backed voles (Myodes regulus) in a natural deciduous forest located on Mt. Gariwang, Pyeongchang and Jeongseon, South Korea. Our study focused on four types of ecological factors: topography, climate, cover, and demography. A total of 29 voles were radio-tracked from August to September 2021. Home range (95% utilization distribution; UD) and core area (50% UD) were calculated using the kernel density estimator (KDE). The home range (1659.49 m2) and core area (317.08 m2) were negatively affected by altitude. The lunar phase and temperature negatively and positively influenced the home range and core area, respectively. The home range was positively affected by understory vegetation, whereas the core area was not. The core area increased within microhabitats with a high density of conspecific individuals, with males having a larger home range (2006.19 m2) and core area (375.40 m2) than females (1043.13 m2 and 213.39 m2, respectively). These findings provide a deeper understanding of the diverse ecological factors affecting the distributions of animals, especially small rodents.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of the study area. (a) Location of Mt. Gariwang (white triangle) in Pyeongchang and Jeongseon (grey); (b) location of the three study sites (white box) in Mt. Gariwang. Both (a) and (b) were generated using QGIS 3.16 (http://www.qgis.org).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Topographic effects on the home range and core area of red-backed voles (Myodes regulus) determined by the linear models.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Climatic effects on the home range and core area of red-backed voles (Myodes regulus) determined by the linear models.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Cover effects on the home range of red-backed voles (Myodes regulus) determined by the linear model.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Demographic effects on the home range and core area of red-backed voles (Myodes regulus) determined by the linear models.
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