Partial Semelparity in the Neotropical Didelphid Marsupial Gracilinanus Microtarsus

Martins, Eduardo G.; Bonato, Vinícius; da-Silva, Cibele Q.; Reis, Sérgio Furtado dos

doi:10.1644/05-mamm-a-403r1.1

Cited by 48 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Therefore, weaning probably occurs at the beginning of the warm-wet season. Martins et al (2006c) demonstrated that males of G. microtarsus are partially semelparous (a condition in which mortality after the first mating is high but not complete, with a small fraction of males surviving to a second breeding season). One of the forces that drives semelparity (a single reproductive episode followed by death) in males is inter-male competition (Holleley et al 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth and home range size of the gracile mouse opossum Gracilinanus microtarsus (Marsupialia: Didelphidae) in Brazilian cerrado

et al. 2010

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Differences in growth patterns between the sexes of the gracile mouse opossum Gracilinanus microtarsus and the consequences for home range size were investigated in a savanna habitat (cerrado) of south-eastern Brazil. A total of 51 juvenile individuals of Gracilinanus microtarsus was monitored using capture-mark-recapture from November 2005 to August 2006. The increase in body mass of gracile mouse opossums was described using the Gompertz growth model. Male gracile mouse opossums grew faster than females (dimorphic ratio of 1.5). Home range size, estimated with the minimum convex polygon method, was positively related to body mass. Model selection using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC c ) and incorporating body mass, sex and season as independent variables showed that the best-supported model describing variance in home range sizes included only body mass. Our data suggest that a greater body mass gain in juvenile males is probably the proximate cause of sexual dimorphism in adult gracile mouse opossums and that energetic needs required for growth have a greater influence in home range size.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth and home range size of the gracile mouse opossum Gracilinanus microtarsus (Marsupialia: Didelphidae) in Brazilian cerrado

et al. 2010

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“…However, they differ in microhabitat preferences as G. microtarsus is mainly arboreal while M. incanus more frequently uses the understorey and forest ground (Cunha and Vieira 2002;Vieira and Monteiro-Filho 2003). Both species show at least partially a semelparous mating behaviour, which means that individuals contribute to only one mating season and die thereafter (Lorini et al 1994;Martins et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variety matters: adaptive genetic diversity and parasite load in two mouse opossums from the Brazilian Atlantic forest

et al. 2010

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The adaptive potential of a species to a changing environment and in disease defence is primarily based on genetic variation. Immune genes, such as genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), may thereby be of particular importance. In marsupials, however, there is very little knowledge about natural levels and functional importance of MHC polymorphism, despite their key role in the mammalian evolution. In a previous study, we discovered remarkable differences in the MHC class II diversity between two species of mouse opossums (Gracilinanus microtarsus, Marmosops incanus) from the Brazilian Atlantic forest, which is one of the most endangered hotspots for biodiversity conservation. Since the main forces in generating MHC diversity are assumed to be pathogens, we investigated in this study gastrointestinal parasite burden and functional associations between the individual MHC constitution and parasite load. We tested two contrasting scenarios, which might explain differences in MHC diversity between species. We predicted that a species with low MHC diversity would either be under relaxed selection pressure by low parasite diversity ('Evolutionary equilibrium' scenario), or there was a recent loss in MHC diversity leading to a lack of resistance alleles and increased parasite burden ('Unbalanced situation' scenario). In both species it became apparent that the MHC class II is functionally important in defence against gastrointestinal helminths, which was shown here for the first time in marsupials. On the population level, parasite diversity did not markedly differ between the two host species. However, we did observe considerable differences in the individual parasite load (parasite prevalence and infection intensity): while M. incanus revealed low MHC DAB diversity and high parasite load, G. microtarsus showed a tenfold higher population wide MHC DAB diversity and lower parasite burden. These results support the second scenario of an unbalanced situation.

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“…Survival rate for females is constant during the pre-and post-mating periods. On the other hand, survival rate in males decreases sharply in the post-mating period and is significantly lower than that of females [41]. The decrease in survival rate in males is probably explained by than that in females (0.12 ± 0.09 ha [48]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Modelling Animal Activity as Curves: An Approach Using Wavelet-Based Functional Data Analysis

Henning¹,

Kist²,

Pinheiro³

et al. 2017

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Temporal activity patterns in animals emerge from complex interactions between choices made by organisms as responses to biotic interactions and challenges posed by external factors. Temporal activity pattern is an inherently continuous process, even being recorded as a time series. The discreteness of the data set is clearly due to data-acquisition limitations rather than a true underlying discrete nature of the phenomenon itself. Therefore, curves are a natural representation for high-frequency data. Here, we fully model temporal activity data as curves integrating wavelets and functional data analysis, allowing for testing hypotheses based on curves rather than on scalar and vector-valued data. Temporal activity data were obtained experimentally for males and females of a small-bodied marsupial and modelled as wavelets with independent and identically distributed errors and dependent errors. The null hypothesis of no difference in temporal activity pattern between male and female curves was tested with functional analysis of variance (FANOVA). The null hypothesis was rejected by FANOVA and we discussed the differences in temporal activity pattern curves between males and females in terms of ecological and life-history attributes of the reference species. We also performed numerical analysis that shed light on the regularity properties of the wavelet bases used and the thresholding parameters.

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Partial Semelparity in the Neotropical Didelphid Marsupial Gracilinanus Microtarsus

Cited by 48 publications

References 35 publications

Growth and home range size of the gracile mouse opossum Gracilinanus microtarsus (Marsupialia: Didelphidae) in Brazilian cerrado

Growth and home range size of the gracile mouse opossum Gracilinanus microtarsus (Marsupialia: Didelphidae) in Brazilian cerrado

Variety matters: adaptive genetic diversity and parasite load in two mouse opossums from the Brazilian Atlantic forest

Modelling Animal Activity as Curves: An Approach Using Wavelet-Based Functional Data Analysis

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