New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Does high growth rate of juvenile house mice with prolonged access
to ripening grain and free water drive population outbreaks?
Greg Mutze
Animal and Plant Control Group
Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation
GPO Box 2834, Adelaide
SA 5001, Australia
mutze.greg@saugov.sa.gov.au
Abstract Post-weaning growth rates were
measured for juvenile
house mice (Mus domesticus) reared under four experimental
treatments representing dietary conditions in cereal-growing areas of
southeastern Australia. The mice were bred in captivity from adult wild
mice captured in mature dry cereal crops during summer. Juvenile mice
were caged in pairs at 23°C and offered a diet of either ripening
wheat heads or mature dry wheat heads, with or without access to free
water. All diets were adequate for survival, but juvenile mice on a
diet of ripening wheat with water available grew at 0.25 g day–1,
260% faster than those on a diet of mature wheat and deprived access to
free water. Mice on a diet of ripening wheat but deprived of free water
and those on a diet of mature wheat with water available grew at
intermediate rates. Post-weaning growth rates of mice in all treatment
groups were higher when the young were weaned at higher body mass. The
results have implications for estimates of growth, timing of sexual
maturity and reproduction of mice in field populations, and indicate
that prolonged access to ripening grain and/or relief from moisture
stress are likely to be critical to rapid population increase during
population outbreaks.
Keywords house mice; Mus domesticus; growth; moisture
stress; ripening grain
Z07021; Online publication date 26 July 2007; Received 22 May 2007;
accepted 4 July 2007
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2007, Vol. 34: 195–202
0301–4223/07/3403–0195 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2007
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