Test of character displacement in urban populations of Apodemus sylvaticus

Abstract

We studied the wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, inhabiting parks, cemeteries, suburban woods, and other green areas in the city of Prague. To assess the character displacement and (or) release hypothesis we compared seven samples from local populations occurring sympatrically with Apodemus flavicollis with 10 samples from those localities in which A. flavicollis has never been recorded. The analysis included 1410 specimens of A. sylvaticus collected during the years 1980–1990. Seventeen skull and body characters were measured. Then the data were age- or size-adjusted and treated by principal-component analyses. Factor scores were further subjected to statistical testing. Although the results revealed considerable variation among localities, they did not suggest character displacement and (or) release. Apodemus sylvaticus from populations sympatric with A. flavicollis were morphometrically similar to their conspecifics from other populations collected at the periphery of the city. However, slight but statistically highly significant differences were found between samples from localities in the city centre and those from the periphery. This phenomenon may be interpreted as the effect of urbanisation or isolation by built-up areas.