A live-trapping study of the brush-tailed possum Trichosurus vulpecula Kerr (Marsupialia)

Dunnet, G. M.

doi:10.1071/cwr9560001

Cited by 42 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is a group attribute related to the pattern of overlap of the individual ranges of the members of the group. Dunnet (1956) defines individual range as 'that area occupied and traversed by an establishedindividual in the course of its normal activities. The individual must be established in the sense that it is no longer a transient, but has settled down more or less permanently in a local population'.…”

Section: Markingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Range, Dispersion and Dispersal in a Population of Water Voles (Arvicola terrestris (L.))

Stoddart¹

1970

The Journal of Animal Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. British Ecological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Animal Ecology. INTRODUCTIONThis paper reports part of an investigation into the biology of the water vole, Arvicola terrestrist (Rodentia: Microtinae) in east Aberdeenshire, Scotland, carried out between October 1965 and June 1968.Water voles are microtine rodents weighing, when adult, up to 300 g. Mostly they are secretive animals moving silently, usually through thick vegetation. The preferred habitat appears to be stream banks, although examples are known of water voles living several miles from water (Gilbert White letter X to Pennant). They are strictly herbivorous, and while the main diet consists of grasses and other wild monocotyledons, herbs are sometimes eaten (Holi'sova' 1965). Perry (1943) noted that the breeding season in Britain lasts from the end of March to the latter half of September, but he found fecund animals in February. Females have a polyoestrous cycle, and the average number of embryos in utero is 5-7. There is a post-partum oestrus, and animals failing to become pregnant during it enter a lactation anoestrus. By the end of September the females have passed from a lactation anoestrus to a winter anoestrus without further ovulation. Perry found that animals born early in the season breed later that season, but that observation was not conclusively borne out by the present study. Young from early litters survive better than those from late litters, and juveniles of the year can be distinguished with certainty from adults by their weight, and by the matt quality of their pelage. First-winter and secondwinter voles can be distinguished by weight, but not with absolute certainty. Little is known about the social structure of populations, but a spatial organization is apparent, and is perhaps based on the social ranking of the members of the population. The spatial organization of the group, once established, remains constant for many months (Stoddart 1968), and there appears to be no periodic change of habitat, as occurs in the truly continential part of its distribution range (Varshavskii 1937; Zverev 1928; Myllymaiki 1959). STUDY AREAThe study area chosen for this investigation was the Sands of Forvie National Nature Reserve in east Aberdeenshire (G.R. 0227)-a little-used grouse moor of 705 ha situated on the east coast of Scotland about 20 km north of Aberdeen (Fig. 1). A small 'y'-shaped stream system on the east of the Reserve had long been known to support a population of water voles, and was chosen for study because of its relative isolation from human interference, its isolation from other areas inhabited by water voles, and its freedom from t ...

show abstract

Section: Markingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Range, Dispersion and Dispersal in a Population of Water Voles (Arvicola terrestris (L.))

Stoddart¹

1970

The Journal of Animal Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this species a single, furless, physically immature young is born weighing 200 mg and measuring approximately 15 mm after a gestation of 17·5 days (Pilton & Sharman 1962). The young makes its first exit from the pouch at around 121 days post-partum (Dunnet 1956) and permanently leaves the pouch at around 150 days post-partum (Tyndale-Biscoe & Renfree 1987), after it has acquired the ability to thermoregulate (Gemmell & Cepon 1993). Weaning occurs between 180 and 210 days post-partum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma growth hormone and growth hormone-binding protein during development in the marsupial brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

Saunders

Gemmell²,

Waters³

et al. 2002

Journal of Endocrinology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plasma concentrations of growth hormone (GH) were measured in the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) pouch young from 25 through to 198 days post-partum (n=71). GH concentrations were highest early in pouch life (around 100 ng/ml), and thereafter declined in an exponential fashion to reach adult concentrations (10·8 1·8 ng/ml; n=21) by approximately 121-145 days post-partum, one to two months before the young is weaned. Growth hormone-binding protein (GHBP), which has been shown to modify the cellular actions of GH in eutherian mammals, was identified for the first time in a marsupial. Based on size exclusion gel filtration, possum GHBP had an estimated molecular mass of ]65 kDa, similar to that identified in other mammalian species, and binding of 125 I-labelled human GH (hGH) was displaced by excess hGH (20 µg). An immunoprecipitation method, in which plasma GHBP was rendered polyethylene glycol precipitable with a monoclonal antibody to the rabbit GHBP/GH receptor (MAb 43) and labelled with 125 I-hGH, was used to quantitate plasma GHBP by Scatchard analysis in the developing (pooled plasma samples) and adult (individual animals) possums. Binding affinity (K a ) values in pouch young aged between 45 and 54 and 144 and 153 days post-partum varied between 1·0 and 2·4 10 9 /M, which was slightly higher than that in adult plasma (0·96 0·2 10 9 /M, n=6). Binding capacity (B max ) values increased from nondetectable levels in animals aged 25-38 days post-partum to reach concentrations around half that seen in the adult (1·4 0·2 10 -9 M) by about 117 days post-partum and remained at this level until 153 days post-partum. Therefore, in early pouch life when plasma GH concentrations are highest, the very low concentrations of GHBP are unlikely to be important in terms of competing with GH-receptor for ligand or altering the half-life of circulating GH.

show abstract

“…The breeding biology of the brush possum has been studied in several habitats in Australia (Dunnet 1956, How 1972, Lyne and Verhagen 1957, Pilton and Sharman 1962, Smith, Brown and Frith 1969 and in New Zealand (Crawley 1973, Gilmore 1969, Tyndale-Biscoe 1955. Females reach sexual maturity at one year and 80 per cent produce one young each in autumn.…”

Section: The Mountain Possum and The Brush Possummentioning

confidence: 99%

Eucalypt Forests as Refuge for Wildlife

Tyndale-Biscoe

Calaby

1975

Australian Forestry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A live-trapping study of the brush-tailed possum Trichosurus vulpecula Kerr (Marsupialia)

Cited by 42 publications

References 0 publications

Individual Range, Dispersion and Dispersal in a Population of Water Voles (Arvicola terrestris (L.))

Individual Range, Dispersion and Dispersal in a Population of Water Voles (Arvicola terrestris (L.))

Plasma growth hormone and growth hormone-binding protein during development in the marsupial brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

Eucalypt Forests as Refuge for Wildlife

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About