Levant vole (Microtus guentheri (Danford and Alston 1880) prefers southerly-facing slopes in agricultural sites at Antalya, Turkey

Abstract

In this study preferred habitat type and characteristics of Microtus guentheri was investigated. Of the caught animals, 152 (75 females; 77 males) were dead individuals and 61 (32 females; 29 males) were alive. Living individuals were tagged, measured, and released. All samples were taken from the various habitats found within the province of Antalya (Turkey), from April-August 2000 to April-August 2003. Most of the voles were found in agricultural areas (46.71% dead and 54.10% alive) or on roadsides close to agricultural areas (42.76% dead and 46.71% alive). Only 10.53% of live voles and 3.28% of live voles were caught in grasslands. In the areas with slopes of 0-45 degrees, there were strong positive correlations between the capture frequency in traps and the slope (r(snaptrapping)=0.930; p<0.0001 and r(livetrapping)=0.916; p<0.001). On the other hand, a very strong negative correlations were found between capture frequency and slope for the areas with slopes of 46-90 degrees (r(snaptrapping)=-0.972; p<0.006 and r(livetrapping)=-0.832; p<0.005). In the sample of 152 dead and 61 living voles, 97 (63.82%) and 42 (68.85%) were caught in areas with slopes of 31-60 degrees. Most of the individuals caught (n(snaptrapping)=106; 69.736% and n(livetrapping)=51; 84.443%) were trapped on the south, southeast, and southwest exposures, but there were no differences between the east and west exposures. Moreover, significant positive correlations between altitude of sites and frequency of capture in snaptraps and Sherman livetraps (r(snaptrapping)=0.880; n=6; p=0.021, r(livetrapping)=0.828; n=6; p=0.042, respectively) were found. Thus, trapping success and population density (r(density)=0.966; n=6; p=0.002) increased along with increasing altitude.