Abstract
We studied the characteristics of dispersing Akodon azarae in agroecosystems of central Argentina. The landscape of the study area consists of cropfields surrounded by weedy margins, which provide good quality habitat for A. azarae. We sampled six times between June 1991 and May 1993. We defined a central area (center) where all A. azarae were removed, while capture-mark-release trapping was conducted in the adjacent areas (laterals). Individuals were characterized as residents if they did not change their home range between trapping sessions, or colonizing dispersers if they changed their home range and colonized the centers. We compared dispersers and residents with respect to sex ratio, proportion of reproductively active individuals, body length and weight. In general, residents were larger than dispersers but they did not differ with respect to reproductive activity and sex ratio. Differences were greater for females in the reproductive period and for males in the nonreproductive period, suggesting that during reproductive period smaller females of lower competitive ability may disperse to obtain a territory and reproduce, while male dispersal in the nonreproductive period would be non adaptive because the smaller male dispersers have low chance of survival in an impoverished habitat with high rodent density.
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