Influence of habitat on fine-scale space use by brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus) in the High Arctic.

ABSTRACT: Space use by small mammals should mirror their immediate needs for food and predator shelters but can also be influenced by seasonal changes in biotic and abiotic factors. Lemmings are keystone species of the tundra food web, but information on their spatial distribution in relation to habitat heterogeneity is still scant, especially at a fine scale. In this study, we used spatially explicit capture-recapture methods to determine how topography, hydrology, vegetation, and soil characteristics influence the fine-scale spatial variations in summer density of brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus). Lemmings were monitored throughout the summer in wet and mesic tundra habitats and in a predator exclusion grid, which was also located in mesic tundra. We found that in wet tundra, lemming d

SUBMITTER: Valcourt M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11427541 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature