Rodents thrive near highways
More delightful research - and open
minds.
There is something out there, and what an
Indiana State University professor and his students are finding is surprising
them. Dale Sparks…and a team of students are evaluating the quality of
Interstate 70 as a small mammal habitat from the Indiana state line to Marshall,
Ill.
“Biologists have often considered roadways as useless or worse for wildlife,” Sparks said. “The traditional view is that these areas are too badly damaged to serve as effective habitat. However, any birdwatcher and many bored drivers know that hawks spend a lot of time sitting on the roadside staring at the ditches, medians and highway triangles, so there must be something out there.”…
Just like the hawks, Sparks said they are finding mice and other rodents that call the medians, triangles and roadsides home.
“Everything in the preliminary data says medians are great habitats,” Sparks said. On the roadsides and in the triangles, they have found white-footed mice, deer mice and voles. In the medians, they have found white-footed mice, deer mice and shrews, including one type of shrew that is on the Indiana watch list. That same shrew is not on the Illinois watch list where the crew is working.
“Certainly from the preliminary data, it’s a denser, more diverse community in the median than the triangles and ditches,” he said.
This is delightful and basic research. It’s all-encompassing - in the Darwinian tradition.
When I drive to town for my weekend grocery shop, there’s a stretch of county road where my wife and I always keep tabs on the number of hawks and ravens atop utility poles. More raptors? More carrion eaters? More critters living down below.
“Biologists have often considered roadways as useless or worse for wildlife,” Sparks said. “The traditional view is that these areas are too badly damaged to serve as effective habitat. However, any birdwatcher and many bored drivers know that hawks spend a lot of time sitting on the roadside staring at the ditches, medians and highway triangles, so there must be something out there.”…
Just like the hawks, Sparks said they are finding mice and other rodents that call the medians, triangles and roadsides home.
“Everything in the preliminary data says medians are great habitats,” Sparks said. On the roadsides and in the triangles, they have found white-footed mice, deer mice and voles. In the medians, they have found white-footed mice, deer mice and shrews, including one type of shrew that is on the Indiana watch list. That same shrew is not on the Illinois watch list where the crew is working.
“Certainly from the preliminary data, it’s a denser, more diverse community in the median than the triangles and ditches,” he said.
This is delightful and basic research. It’s all-encompassing - in the Darwinian tradition.
When I drive to town for my weekend grocery shop, there’s a stretch of county road where my wife and I always keep tabs on the number of hawks and ravens atop utility poles. More raptors? More carrion eaters? More critters living down below.
Posted: Wed - December 19, 2007 at 07:06 AM