Microhabitat selection under experimental conditions of three sigmodontine rodents
1998
Lozada, Mariana | Guthmann, Nadia
This study was undertaken to examine microhabitat selection, under experimental conditions, of three sympatric rodent species, Eligmodontia morgani, Abrothrix longipilis and Abrothrix xanthorhinus, which inhabit the northwestern Patagonian steppe. This natural environment presents different kinds of vegetation patches with the most conspicuous being bunchgrass and bushes. These two types of vegetation were placed adjacently in an experimental arena (2 m ¥ 1 m), with a known quantity of food between both patches. Each animal was left for 24 hours, and then the signs of activity were analysed comparing the microhabitat use in each patch. More signs of activity in the bushy patch were left by A. longipilis, in the steppe microhabitat by E. morgani and signs of activity by A. xanthorhinus were evenly distributed in both microenvironments. These data indicate that for these species, microhabitat selection occurs at fine spatial scales.
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