Small mammal abundance, habitat selection, and movement patterns in shrub-steppe habitat in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley
Bibliographic record
Abstract
This study determines the role of vegetation in shaping individual habitat use, tortuosity of movement patterns and patterns of population density of western harvest mice (Reithrodontomys megalotis), Great Basin pocket mice (Perognathus parvus) and deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. The former two mice are considered at risk in British Columbia due to loss or alteration of native habitat by human development and invasive species such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). The objectives of this study were: 1) to determine the effects of cheatgrass on small mammal abundance and habitat use; 2) to use fractal analyses of path tortuosity to assess the spatial scales at which mice perceive their environment and; 3) to determine the role of vegetation and population density in shaping movement patterns. Trapping and tracking were conducted in 2008 in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia at the northern reaches of the Great Basin ecosystem on 12 sites spanning a gradient of cheatgrass cover. Habitat use and movement patterns were delineated by powdering mice with fluorescent pigment and following their trails. In the fall, the average population density per 1-hectare site was 18.0 ± 4.5 Great Basin pocket mice, 0.21 ± 0.08 deer mice and 0.08 ± 0.02 western harvest mice, while in the summer only Great Basin pocket mice were trapped (8.71 ± 3.20). Cheatgrass invasion ranged from 1 to 18 % cover. Cheatgrass abundance was not correlated with the population density of any small mammal species. In the summer, bare ground and shrub cover best-predicted Great Basin pocket mouse density, while in the fall bare ground alone was the best predictor. Great Basin pocket mice selected bare, open habitat. Vegetation was avoided with the exception of annual grasses, mainly comprised of cheatgrass, which Great Basin pocket mice selected. Bare ground in combination with cheatgrass may have provided optimal habitat for movement. Great Basin pocket mouse path tortuosity increased with vegetation cover and population density and decreased with open habitat. The fractal dimension of movement pathways was consistent over the spatial scales measured in this study.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".