Linking behavior,life history and food supply with the population dynamics of white-footed mice(Peromyscus leucopus)  

作　　者：Stephen H.VESSEY Kristin B.VESSEY 

机构地区：[1]Department of Biological Sciences,Bowling Green State University,Bowling Green,Ohio,USA

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2007年第3期123-130,共8页整合动物学（英文版）

摘　　要：In this paper we review and integrate key aspects of behavioral and life history traits, food supply and populationdynamics of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), a species that is abundant and widely distributedacross much of eastern North America. Results are based largely on a 33-year mark-and-recapture study in a forestfragment in northwest Ohio, USA. Behavioral plasticity in such reproductive traits as mating system and parentalcare allows this species to adjust quickly to changing environments. The species has a relatively “fast” life history,with rapid attainment of sexual maturity and high fecundity in the face of high mortality rates. Maximal reproductiveeffort early in life enables a rapid population response. Food supply, in the form of mast, determines thesize of the reproducing population in early spring, which, in turn, influences the size of the late summer peak population.The peak population size is also affected by short-term weather events possibly acting via the food supply.The effects of weather and food on population growth are in part mediated through competition, including defenseof space and suppression of reproduction. The inelasticity of female territories appears to set an upper limit topopulation density.

关 键 词：BEHAVIOR DEMOGRAPHY life history MAST Peromyscus. 

分 类 号：TP3[自动化与计算机技术—计算机科学与技术]