Responses of male and female common voles (Microtus arvalis) to conspecific scent marks: a first step towards a new control method of their population density

Abstract

Chemical signals are the main communication channel in small mammals and are implied in many aspects of their behaviour. Thus, conspecific odours could have the potential to attract individuals to massive trapping systems. This is a control method that is increasingly used in invertebrate plague control but that remains mainly unexplored for rodents. Through scent marking, individuals obtain information about the presence of conspecifics in a given area, and this is the main mechanism of intrasexual competence in mammals. We have experimentally examined chemosensory behaviour of male and female common voles in response to scent-marks of other males or females during the main breeding season. Individual voles were introduced 5 min in a Y-maze with conspecific odour in one of the arms and control odour in the other. Their behaviour was recorded by video-camera and the overall time spent on each arm calculated. Experimental males spent similar time in areas marked with conspecific male odour or control odour, what do not suggest any preference or avoidance of areas used by other males. However, males spent significantly more time in the arm marked with female odour as compared with a control odour. In the case of females, they always spent more time in the arm marked with conspecific odour, either of males or females, than in the control odour. These results suggest that attracting females to traps with conspecific scent could potentially be a more profitable strategy than attracting males.