Water voles select and overexploit high-quality habitats, hindering future colonisations: Evidence from drone-based monitoring of dandelion-vole interactions in mountain meadows
Résumé
Like many rodents, the water vole is able to reach high densities in meadows. During outbreaks, voles cause significant changes in plant communities. Although water voles consume a wide variety of plant species, dandelions have a unique position: they are selected by voles year-round and serve as a key resource during winter. Voles harvest all parts of the dandelion and store the roots in almost monospecific food stores. As dandelions This study demonstrates that dandelion density is a key criterion in habitat selection for water voles and that vole colonies rapidly deplete this resource after establishment. These findings provide insight into plant-herbivore interactions and offer valuable perspectives for further exploration of the plant hypothesis, particularly with respect to the dynamics of resource availability and its role in cyclic population fluctuations.
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