The paper addresses the following issues: (1) does the bank vole response to odours of other rodent species by urine and faeces marking (2) does this reaction depend on the species, (3) does the amount of odour influence the marking, and (4) the response of bank voles to the presence of heterospecifics, and its comparison with the response of marking the odour deposited by these species. The study was conducted in a Ribo nigri-Alnetum swamp located in the Kampinos National Park, central Poland (52°20’N and 27°25’E). To observe scent marking, white paper sheets (15 × 21 cm) supplied with sponges (1cm³) soaked in odour of particular rodent species were exposed in the forest along a line ca 1200 m long. Odour donors were countryside species: a) phylogenetically close to the bank vole, such as Microtus agrestis (L.) and M. oeconomus (Pallas), b) sympatric, such as Apodemus flavicollis (Melchior) and A. sylvaticus (Melchior), or occupying a different habitat A. agrarius (Pallas), and allopatric species such as Meriones unguiculatus (Milne-Edwards), Mesocricetus auratus (Waterhouse), and Octodon degus (Bennet). Also sheets with the odour of bank vole and control sheets without odour were exposed. Marking was analysed basing on the number of marked sheets (marking extensity), and on the number of urine and faeces marks on sheets (marking intensity). During the three study years, a high marking extensity was observed for the odours of phylogenetically close species. The odours of sympatric species were marked less frequently and with a higher variability in successive years. The lowest marking extensity was found for geographically alien (allopatric) species. The mean number of marks per sheet did not differ significantly between the species. To examine the effect of odour quantity on marking, a line (ca 630 m long) made up of sheets provided with 1, 3, and 5 sponges with M. oeconomus and C. glareolus odour, and of control sheets was established. The increase in the number of sponges with heterospecific odour had no effect on the extensity and intensity of marking. Significant difference in marking extensity, but not in marking intensity, was found in the case of conspecific odour. The response of bank voles to the presence of heterospecifics was examined based on the number of captures in double-traps with a live individual. In the forest, a line of 30 double-traps placed every 10 m was established, containing single M. oeconomus, A. flavicollis, or C. glareolus. Bank voles were more often captured in traps with conspecifics than with heterospecofics. Thus, bank voles avoid encounters with heterospecifics but they do not avoid marking their odour (marking the heterospecific odour was not lower than marking conspecifics and control). It may suggest that under natural conditions, interspecific communication is largely mediated through olfactory cues.
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