The short-term rhythm of activity in microtine rodents is persistent on the
population level even with increasing density, which is regarded as eviden
ce for social synchronisation in the literature. Based on empirical data fr
om a field study we developed an individual-based model to test the rationa
le behind this argument. The model considered two aspects: (1) the activity
behaviour of 10 to 100 individuals; and (2) the probability of activity re
cording. We have modelled five different mechanism of activity synchronisat
ion, ranging from no synchronisation over entrainment by sunrise and sunset
to strong social synchronisation. We then examined density dependence of t
he resultant population level pattern quantitatively. The analysis revealed
that the pattern persists with increasing density irrespective of the supp
osed mechanism of activity synchronisation, so the argument for social sync
hronisation does not hold. We discuss this finding and give an outlook how
the model may be used as a conceptual framework to approach other problems
related to microtine activity behaviour. Our model may also serve as an exa
mple for a useful technique to evaluate methodological issues, in which a v
irtual reality is compared with its image derived from data analysis. (C) 1
999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.