Barriers as boundaries for metapopulations and demes of Peromyscus leucopus in farm landscapes

• Published in: Landscape ecology Vol. 2; no. 4; pp. 227 - 235
• Main Authors: Merriam, Gray, Kozakiewicz, Michal, Tsuchiya, Etsuko, Hawley, Karen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-06-1989
• Subjects: Peromyscus leucopus; Canada, Ontario
• ISSN: 0921-2973; 1572-9761
• DOI: 10.1007/BF00125093

Effects of potential barriers (roads and cultivated fields) on both demographic and genetic features of subpopulations of white-footed mice were studied near Ottawa, Canada. Live trapping, colored bait and track registry were used to study animal movements across roads on four 1.44 ha areas each within a small forest bisected by a narrow gravel road. The genetic study was done in 11 other forest fragments separated from each other by cultivated fields. Frequencies of three electrophoretic variants of salivary amylases were established for mice caught in each patch of wood and genetic similarity of subpopulations was calculated. Movements of mice across the roads were very infrequent (quantitative barrier), although movements adjacent to roads were frequent and long enough to cross the roads.