Use of Xanthorrhoea semiplana (grass-trees) for refuge by Rattus fuscipes (southern bush rat)

Frazer, Deborah S.; Petit, Sophie

doi:10.1071/wr06123

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…To support this idea, our study found that much of the utilisation of grasstrees in the 5-and 14-year burn sites involved movement through one grasstree skirt to another, and the erratic and convoluted trails beneath and among skirts of grasstrees suggested that foraging was taking place (Anderson et al 1988;Stokes et al 2004). The importance of grasstrees as habitat is also likely to vary with the amount of other understorey cover present (Frazer and Petit 2007) and in areas where logs and other forms of understorey cover are sparse or absent (such as open woodlands) grasstrees are more likely to be a critical habitat component for mardos. The importance of managing fire to retain grasstree skirts and crowns will, therefore, vary between habitats.…”

Section: Do Mardos Utilise Grasstrees As Foraging or Nesting Sites?mentioning

confidence: 72%

The importance of grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea preissii) as habitat for mardo (Antechinus flavipes leucogaster) during post-fire recovery

et al. 2007

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Grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) are an important structural component of many Australian ecosystems and also an important resource for many fauna species. Grasstrees have distinctive morphologies, with a crown of long thin leaves and skirts, the latter of which are accumulated dead leaves; both are incinerated by fire. This study determined the morphological features of Xanthorrhoea preissii, which change in response to fire from 6 months to 21 years post-burn. In addition, using radio-telemetry and spool-tracking, we determined that grasstrees are utilised as foraging and nesting resources for mardos (Antechinus flavipes leucogaster (Gray, 1841), Marsupialia: Dasyuridae). Recently burnt grasstrees (6 months post-burn) appeared not to be used by mardos at all. We found few mardos in these recently burnt sites, and the one individual we managed to track for 126 m utilised only a single grasstree: a 2-m-tall multiple-crowned grasstree that had escaped the fire was used as a nest site. For sites 5 years post-burn, mardos selectively utilised grasstrees with larger crown areas and those with a greater number of crowns compared with a random sample of available trees. At the 14-year postburn sites, mardos still demonstrated some selection for grasstrees, although no specific single feature could be determined as most significant. We recorded humidity and temperature buffering effects in association with post-burn accumulation of grasstree skirt material and found that even dead grasstree 'logs' were an important resource for nests. We conclude that mardos utilise both live and dead grasstrees for foraging and nest sites, possibly owing to the availability of dense cover, a buffered microclimate, and potentially also food resources. Fire-management policies that promote habitat heterogeneity and retain several intact-skirted grasstrees within the landscape are likely to benefit mardos. The importance of grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea preissii) as habitat for mardo (Antechinus flavipes leucogaster) during post-fire recovery

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Section: Do Mardos Utilise Grasstrees As Foraging or Nesting Sites?mentioning

confidence: 72%

The importance of grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea preissii) as habitat for mardo (Antechinus flavipes leucogaster) during post-fire recovery

et al. 2007

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“…Over half (61 of 107) of the species analysed had a significant ( P < 0.05) indicator value for a particular community, indicating that the classification encompassed a large proportion of variation in the vegetation. A number of the species with high indicator values are of particular interest to management, including species of Xanthorrhoea , which provide key habitat to plants and animals (Petit & Dickson ; Frazer & Petit ; Swinburn et al. ) and Leptospermum continentale and Pteridium esculentum , which are important fire fuel elements (McCarthy et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognising fuzzy vegetation pattern: the spatial prediction of floristically defined fuzzy communities using species distribution modelling methods

Duff

Bell

York

2013

J Vegetation Science

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Question: Plant communities are not necessarily spatially exclusive; a point in space can exhibit properties of multiple communities. Such variation can be described using floristically defined 'fuzzy' units, however these may not be easily delineated using standard remote sensing methods. Is there value in considering communities as fuzzy? Can species distribution modelling methods be used to represent fuzzy communities spatially?Location: Western Victoria, Australia.Methods: Fuzzy communities were objectively identified from vegetation census quadrats with a cluster analysis of ordinated species data. Boosted regression trees were used to create models that defined relationships between the sampled communities and environmental predictor variables. These were applied to the mapped predictors to create maps of estimated fuzzy community membership for the entire study area.Results: Four separate fuzzy communities were identified from the sampled vegetation data. Models were created for each community and these were effectively used to generate maps of fuzzy community membership. Individual fuzzy community maps illustrated vegetation variation that could not be discerned on a discretely classified map.Conclusions: Fuzzy communities were found to represent a greater proportion of species variation than discretely classified units. Species distribution modelling methods were effective in creating independent spatial maps of each floristically defined fuzzy community; however the interpretation of these maps is more complex than with a single discrete community map.

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“…However, it is possible that an increasing T a could have made active arousal easier by reducing the T b -T a differential, especially during the earlier phase of rewarming. We think it highly unlikely the animal was exposed to direct solar radiation, because bush rats normally use underground burrows or ground nests under dense grass trees (Collins 1973 ; Frazer and Petit 2007 ). Basking in the sun should also have led to faster rewarming rates than those recorded.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survivable hypothermia or torpor in a wild-living rat: rare insights broaden our understanding of endothermic physiology

Nowack

Turbill

2021

J Comp Physiol B

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Maintaining a high and stable body temperature as observed in endothermic mammals and birds is energetically costly. Thus, it is not surprising that we discover more and more heterothermic species that can reduce their energetic needs during energetic bottlenecks through the use of torpor. However, not all heterothermic animals use torpor on a regular basis. Torpor may also be important to an individual’s probability of survival, and hence fitness, when used infrequently. We here report the observation of a single, ~ 5.5 h long hypothermic bout with a decrease in body temperature by 12 °C in the native Australian bush rat (Rattus fuscipes). Our data suggest that bush rats are able to rewarm from a body temperature of 24 °C, albeit with a rewarming rate lower than that expected on the basis of their body mass. Heterothermy, i.e. the ability to withstand and overcome periods of reduced body temperature, is assumed to be an evolutionarily ancestral (plesiomorphic) trait. We thus argue that such rare hypothermic events in species that otherwise appear to be strictly homeothermic could be heterothermic rudiments, i.e. a less derived form of torpor with limited capacity for rewarming. Importantly, observations of rare and extreme thermoregulatory responses by wild animals are more likely to be discovered with long-term data sets and may not only provide valuable insight about the physiological capability of a population, but can also help us to understand the constraints and evolutionary pathways of different phenologies.

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Use of Xanthorrhoea semiplana (grass-trees) for refuge by Rattus fuscipes (southern bush rat)

Cited by 13 publications

References 45 publications

The importance of grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea preissii) as habitat for mardo (Antechinus flavipes leucogaster) during post-fire recovery

The importance of grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea preissii) as habitat for mardo (Antechinus flavipes leucogaster) during post-fire recovery

Recognising fuzzy vegetation pattern: the spatial prediction of floristically defined fuzzy communities using species distribution modelling methods

Survivable hypothermia or torpor in a wild-living rat: rare insights broaden our understanding of endothermic physiology

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