TOPERAS: Molehill counts in Montaña Palentina (Spain)
[Description of methods used for collection/generation of data] The purpose of the sampling was to obtain an index of montane water vole (Arvicola amphibius cantabriae) abundance. For this purpose, 278 fixed sampling points (locationID) were chosen in the study area, resampling them every year in au...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | conjunto de datos |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/341959 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/341959 https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/16069 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Abundance Arvicola amphibius Horse Molehill counts Cordillera Cantábrica Cricetidae Spain Mammals Microtus lusitanicus Presence Montane water vole Talpa occidentalis Talpidae Cattle Abundancia Caballo Conteo toperas España Mamíferos Presencia Rata topera Vaca |
| Sumario: | [Description of methods used for collection/generation of data] The purpose of the sampling was to obtain an index of montane water vole (Arvicola amphibius cantabriae) abundance. For this purpose, 278 fixed sampling points (locationID) were chosen in the study area, resampling them every year in autumn. Since 2025, another sampling has also been winter. The points are located in Meadows and grasslands. The selection was random, using QGIS, with two constraints: they had to be more than 100 m away from each other and that they were less than 500 m from the road. From the year 2023 onwards, 25 other points within forest habitats were selected with the same characteristics. At each points, a 100 m transect was made, parallel to the riverbeds, to maintain constant soil and moisture conditions. Each transect was divided into 20 segments, 5 m long by 5 m wide (2.5 m on each side of the line of advance), and the presence/absence of signs in each segment was noted. In this way, an abundance index was obtained, ranging from 0 (no signs found) to 20 (signs present in all segments). This value correlates with the abundance of the species (Giraudoux et al. 1995). Sampling was repeated annually in late September/early October. Although the target species to be counted was the montane water vole, the presence of Lusitanian pine vole (Microtus lusitanicus), Iberian mole (Talpa occidentalis), cattle and horse was also noted. The molehills of the wild species were differentiated by their characteristics of size, shape, entrance and disposition (Miñarro et al. 2012). For domestic species, the presence/absence of dung in each section was noted. |
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