Realm: Terrestrial
Climate: Temperate
Biome: Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Central latitude: 45.593511
Central longitude: -78.524058
Duration: 43 years, from 1952 to 1995

337 records

8 distinct species

Across the time series Myodes gapperi is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

Live-trapping of small mammals was conducted in a standardized manner over the past 43 yr at the Wildlife Research Station near Lake Sasajewun, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada (48°30? N, 78°40? W). At each of 1015 forested sites, a 90-m trapline was established with either one or two Sherman traps at stations 10 m apart. The physical dimensions of the Sherman traps were 7.5 × 7.5 × 30.5 cm, of sufficient size to catch even large rodents, such as red or flying squirrels. Single lines had 10 traps in total, whereas double lines (two traps per trapsite) had 20 traps. Lines were sampled either once or twice a month for three nights from mid-May until the end of August or September, yielding a maximum of 10 of these 3-d trapping periods per year. Over the years a few lines were abandoned or moved, but otherwise the trapping protocol was quite consistent. Lines were set out in a variety of forest stands, ranging from pure deciduous hardwoods through mixed forest to pure coniferous stands. During the early years of the study, three lines in the hardwood forest stands were double lines that were sampled once every two weeks, whereas the other habitats had single lines sampled monthly. In 1979, three single lines were abandoned and the remaining lines were converted to double lines and sampled once every two weeks. The original double lines in hardwood stands were unaltered. One additional line was dropped in 1980. There is a 1-yr gap in the time series (1988), so our time-series analysis and tests of density dependence are confined to the first 36 yr of study. Subsequent population monitoring has closely followed the pre-1988 procedures, allowing additional estimates of per capita rates of increase between 1989 and 1995. Traplines were ?0.3 km apart and few marked animals have been captured on more than one trapline. The total study area is ?8 × 2.5 km, comprising several stands in a continuously forested region of the Park that has not been logged or burned since the 1930s. Gross trapping effort was calculated by multiplying the number of lines by trap stations per line, trapping periods, and nights per trapping period. Comparative studies (E. A. Falls, unpublished data) showed that double trap lines yielded ?1.5× the captures made by comparable single lines. We accordingly multiplied the trapping effort from double lines by 1.5 to account for differences in the effectiveness of double vs. single lines. For example, a double line would have 45 trap nights of effective effort per 3-d sampling period whereas a single line would have 30 trap nights of effective effort.

Citation(s)

@Article{BioTIME_cit484, Study_id = {714}, Citation_id = {484}, Author = {Fryxell, John M. and Falls, J. Bruce and Falls, E. Ann and Brooks, Ronald J.}, Journal = {Ecology}, Pages = {213-225}, Title = {Long-term dynamics of small-mammal populations in Ontario}, Volume = {79}, Year = {1998}, Doi = {10.1890/0012-9658(1998)079[0213:LTDOSM]2.0.CO;2}, Language = {English} }