The Use of Winter Home Ranges in a Low Density Clethrionomys glareolus Population

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Abstract
We have examined movement patterns of three nest-sharing groups of bank volves near Uppsala, Sweden, to study individual behavioural tactics during excursions outside nest. The sample consisted of two thirds of all individuals known to be alive within a 3.6 ha area in March 1985. All individuals more often than was expected went in different directions when foraging and synchronous visitations of any of the recorded corrdinates within the commonly used home range only occurred randomly in two of three cases. While even in a low density population nest-sharing occurred, all individuals behaved as if they were balancing between advantages of nest sharing such as heat conservation and disadvantages such as local food depletion and increased risk of predation.