PATH SELECTION BY PEROMYSCUS-LEUCOPUS IN THE PRESENCE AND ABSENCE OF VEGETATIVE COVER

We examined path selection and avoidance by tracking Peromyscus leucopus marked with fluorescent powder in Minnesota and Maryland. Mice at both sites selected logs >5 cm in diameter and avoided logs <5 cm in diameter. In Minnesota, two types of soft log, smooth and mossy, were strongly selected, and hard, smooth logs were avoided. Mice selected forb cover and avoided grass cover in Minnesota and selected bare ground and avoided leaf cover in Maryland. The same pathways were used repeatedly in Maryland, but not in Minnesota. Individual P. leucopus appear to restrict their movements to paths that offer protection from predators searching by sight or sound.