On the Distribution and Food Habits of the Murid Rodents in Agrosystems in Hokkaido

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  • 北海道の農耕地におけるネズミ類の分布と食性について
  • ホッカイドウ ノ ノウコウチ ニ オケル ネズミルイ ノ ブンプ ト ショクセイ ニ ツイテ

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Investigations were performed at Naganuma in central Hokkaido from 1969 to 1972 to determine the distribution and food habit of the murid rodents in agrosystems by means of trappings (3 times/year) and stomach contents analysis. Among 4 genera and 8 species of the murid rodents known in Hokkaido, 6 species were trapped in cultivated fields and their environs during this research. Clethrionomys rufocanus bedfordiae was most numerous and was followed by Apodemus giliacus, Rattus norvegicus, Mus molossinus, A. argenteus and A. speciosus ainu. R. norvegicus and M. molossinus had similar food habits, however their habitats did not overlap, the former was abundant in paddy-fields and latter was in fields. A. giliacus, which was recently treated as an independent species, inhabited abundantly in woodlands in spring, then emigrated into cultivated fields in summer and autumn. It fed on as much animal materials as plant crops. It was showed that C. rufocanus bedfordiae, already known to be abundant in forest and grassland of Hokkaido where voles of genus Microtus were absent, distributed in this trapping area. But the proportion of the voles caught on the cultivated fields to the total catch of the species was low as compared with the above three species. A. speciosus ainu and A. argenteus were known as inhabitants of forest; they temporarily invaded cultivated fields.

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