Data from: Contrasting patterns of female house mouse spatial organisation among outbreaking and stable populations

The size and distribution of home ranges reflects how individuals within a
population use, defend, and share space and resources, and may thus be an
important predictor of population-level dynamics. In eruptive species like
the house mouse in Australian grain growing regions, contrasting space use
between stable and outbreaking populations allows us to test predictions
regarding social or life history strategies that may contribute to an
outbreak. In this study we use spatially explicit capture-recapture models
to compare home range overlap (as a proxy for territoriality) in female
mice from populations showing different outbreak trajectories. We found
that female space use in spring varied between outbreaking and stable
populations. Our analysis indicated greater home range overlap in
populations with stable trajectories compared to those that would later
experience an outbreak, suggesting females in these stable populations may
have had greater potential for cooperative group formation as indicated by
shared space use. We discuss the results with respect to intrinsic
factors, such as kin structure, with potential implications for better
predicting mouse outbreaks at a microgeographic scale.