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A Brandt’s vole
A Brandt’s vole. The creature does not eat bunchgrass, but attacks the bottom parts of its stems and leaves. Photograph: Guoliang Li
A Brandt’s vole. The creature does not eat bunchgrass, but attacks the bottom parts of its stems and leaves. Photograph: Guoliang Li

Mongolian rodent fells tall grass to foil predators, study finds

This article is more than 2 years old

Brandt’s vole found to engineer ecosystem to scan skies for shrikes and deny them perches

A rodent that lives on the plains of Inner Mongolia fells tall grasses so that it can scan the skies for flying predators, a study involving experts from the University of Exeter has found.

The practice by Brandt’s voles also means that shrikes, a type of carnivorous bird, are denied handy perches and places to use as larders for their prey, the study discovered.

Scientists from Exeter and universities in China and the US have established that the voles cut tall bunchgrass when shrikes, also known as butcher birds, were nearby. The voles do not eat the bunchgrass, but were observed to manage it as a means of self-preservation, an example of “ecosystem engineering”.

“When shrikes were present, the voles dramatically decreased the volume of bunchgrass,” said Dirk Sanders of the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the university’s Penryn campus in Cornwall.

Bunchgrass, which the voles manage as a means of self-preservation. Photograph: Zhiwei Zhong

“This led to fewer visits from shrikes, which apparently recognise cut-grass areas as poor hunting grounds. An activity like this is costly for the voles in terms of energy so cutting the grass must significantly improve their chances of survival.”

The voles attack the bottom parts of the stem and leaves and dropped them on the ground. They also dig burrows that lead to the roots being cut.

Researchers tested the impact of keeping the predators away by putting up nets over certain areas. With no shrikes overhead, the voles stopped cutting the bunchgrass.

Other examples of ecosystem engineering include elephants opening up areas of African savanna and fish off the Catalan coast reducing the canopy height of seagrass, but these make areas safer for other species rather than their own.

Shrikes often perch on the branches and stems of shrubs and tall grasses to search for prey such as voles and large insects. They store their food by impaling their prey on a thorn or a stem, as if storing food on a meat hook.

“We sometimes underestimate the ability of wild animals to react to changes in their environment,” Sanders said. “In this case, the voles were able to change their behaviour in response to the removal of predators.

“Our findings are a reminder that species show remarkable adaptations. It also underlines that the loss of even a single species in a food web can result in unexpected changes to an entire habitat.”

The paper is published in the journal Current Biology, entitled “A rodent herbivore reduces its predation risk”.

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