Population dynamics of fossorial water vole (Arvicola terrestris scherman): a land use and landscape perspective

This study investigates the effect of land use, and landscape composition and structure on the population dynamics of fossorial water vole (Arvicola terrestris scherman Shaw). Water vole populations were monitored from 1989 to 1994 in the Doubs department, France, by using index methods. Land use patterns were studied based on agriculture and forestry data from the French Ministry of Agriculture collected in 1956, 1970, 1979 and 1988. Grassland quality and landscape structure were studied based on field transects, combined with the assessment of landscape structure from maps at 1:25,000 scale. Outbreaks of water vole populations occurred as a wave, spreading from epicentres over more than 2500 km(2). The propagation speed was in excess of 10 km/yr. On a regional level (n x 10 km) and over 5 years and more, density variation patterns of water vole were linked to the ratio of ploughed land and of permanent grassland to farmland. At a sectional scale (n x 1 km), forests and uncultivated lands had a dampening effect both on the outbreaks and on their duration. The evolution of farmlands from 1956 to 1988 was apparently the major cause of increase in density variations of water vole. Therefore, land use and landscape management could be a way to control water vole outbreaks, and their effects are discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.