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Shilereyo MT, Magige FJ, Ogutu JO, Røskaft E. Land use and habitat selection by small mammals in the Tanzanian Greater Serengeti Ecosystem. Glob Ecol Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
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2
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Voelker G, Huntley JW, Bryja J, Denys C, Šumbera R, Demos TC, Lavrenchenko L, Nicolas V, Gnoske TP, Kerbis Peterhans JC. Molecular systematics and biogeographic history of the African climbing-mouse complex (Dendromus). Mol Phylogenet Evol 2021; 161:107166. [PMID: 33798668 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Revised: 03/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Climbing mice in the genus Dendromus (sensu lato) are widely distributed in Africa, south of the Saharan Desert. The 17 currently recognized species in the genus range from widespread taxa to single-mountain endemics, and there is considerable variation across species with respect to habitats occupied. These habitats range from arid grasslands and savannahs to sub-alpine and alpine vegetation. Using the most comprehensive geographic and genetic survey to date and after reviewing many type specimens, we assess the systematics and biogeography of Dendromus. Given the structure of our molecular phylogenetic hypotheses, in which we recover six major clades, we propose the recognition of three genera within the Dendromus group (sensu lato): in addition to Dendromus (26 lineages), we suggest the retention of Megadendromus (monotypic) and the resurrection of the genus Poemys (six lineages). From our model-based molecular phylogenetic results and morphological comparisons, we suggest that six formerly synonymized taxa should be resurrected, and we highlight 14 previously undescribed lineages. We also constructed time-calibrations on our phylogeny, and performed ancestral area reconstructions using BioGeoBEARS. Based on fossil evidence, Dendromus appears to have had a widespread African distribution dating back to the Late Miocene (8-10 Ma), and our basal ancestral area reconstruction (Ethiopians Highlands + Eastern African Mountains + Zambezian region) supports this. Divergence of the six major clades we recover (Poemys, Megadendromus and four within Dendromus) occurred prior to or at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary 5.3 Ma. Biogeographically, Megadendromus is restricted to the Ethiopian Highlands. The ancestral area for Poemys is reconstructed as the Zambezian region, with species distributions ranging from South Africa to Western Africa. The ancestral area for Dendromus is reconstructed as the Ethiopian Highlands, with the ancestral areas of the four major clades being reconstructed as Ethiopian Highlands, Albertine Rift, South Africa or Western Africa. None of the four Dendromus clades are reciprocally monophyletic with respect to distributional area.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Voelker
- Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
| | - J W Huntley
- Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States
| | - J Bryja
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - C Denys
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP51, 75005 Paris, France
| | - R Šumbera
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - T C Demos
- Science and Education, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
| | - L Lavrenchenko
- A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - V Nicolas
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP51, 75005 Paris, France
| | - T P Gnoske
- Science and Education, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
| | - J C Kerbis Peterhans
- Science and Education, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, United States; College of Arts & Sciences, Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
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Melville H, Gaugris J. The shortcomings of short‐term biodiversity studies in assessing mammalian diversity, a case study in the Niari Province, Republic of Congo. Afr J Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/aje.12712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Haemish Melville
- Department of Environmental Sciences University of South Africa Florida South Africa
| | - Jerome Gaugris
- FLORA FAUNA & MAN Ecological Services Ltd. Tortola British Virgin Islands
- Centre for African Ecology School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa
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O’Connell MA, Hallett JG. Community ecology of mammals: deserts, islands, and anthropogenic impacts. J Mammal 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyz010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - James G Hallett
- Department of Biology, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA, USA
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Warburton EM, Van Der Mescht L, Khokhlova IS, Krasnov BR, Vonhof MJ. Nestedness in assemblages of helminth parasites of bats: a function of geography, environment, or host nestedness? Parasitol Res 2018; 117:1621-1630. [PMID: 29594347 DOI: 10.1007/s00436-018-5844-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2018] [Accepted: 03/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Nested subsets occur in ecological communities when species-poor communities are subsets of larger, species-rich communities. Understanding this pattern can help elucidate species colonization abilities, extinction risks, and general structuring of biological communities. Here, we evaluate nestedness in a poorly studied host-parasite system, bats and their helminths, across the Japanese archipelago and within its different bioclimatic regions. We hypothesized that (1) if helminth communities are nested across geographic sites at the level of the archipelago, then broad-scale processes, like colonization-extinction dynamics, mainly structure parasite assemblages; (2) if helminth communities are nested across geographic sites at the level of the bioclimatic region, then fine-scale environmental variation plays a significant role in species nestedness; (3) if helminth community nestedness mirrors host species nestedness, then communities are nested because the habitats they occupy are nested; and (4) if nestedness does not occur or if it is not correlated with any geographical or host data, then passive sampling could be responsible for the patterns of parasite assemblage in our sample. We found that helminth communities were nested across host species throughout the archipelago but, when considering each bioclimatic region, helminths in only one region were significantly more nested than the null model. Helminth communities were also nested across sites within all four bioclimatic regions. These results suggest that helminths form nested subsets across the archipelago due to broad-scale processes that reflect the overall lineages of their mammalian hosts; however, at the regional scale, environmental processes related to nestedness of their habitats drive parasite community nestedness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth M Warburton
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Midreshet Ben Gurion, Israel.
| | - Luther Van Der Mescht
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Midreshet Ben Gurion, Israel.,Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
| | - Irina S Khokhlova
- Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
| | - Boris R Krasnov
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Midreshet Ben Gurion, Israel
| | - Maarten J Vonhof
- Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, 49008, USA.,Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, 49008, USA
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Harris NC, Garshong RA, Gray M. Distinct isotopic signatures reveal effect of ecoregion on small mammals of Ghana. J Mammal 2018; 99:117-123. [PMID: 29674787 PMCID: PMC5901091 DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyx158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Species reside in dynamic environments, simultaneously experiencing variations in climatic conditions, habitat availability and quality, interspecific interactions, and anthropogenic pressures. We investigated variation in foraging ecology of the small mammal community between land-use classifications (i.e., protected national parks and unprotected lands abutting them) in Mole National Park (MNP) and Digya National Park (DNP), representing distinct ecoregions of Ghana. In 5,064 trap nights, we sampled 153 individuals of 23 species within the 2 national parks and adjacent lands outside protected boundaries to describe variation in community composition. We also used δ13 C and δ15 N isotopic ratios from fresh feces to determine main effects and interactions between land use and ecoregion on trophic structure in species and communities of small mammals. Small mammals exhibited distinct community assemblages between ecoregions (i.e., national parks): Gerbilliscus guineae, Hybomys trivirgatus, Malacomys edwardsi, Lemniscomys bellieri, L. zebra, and Taterillus gracilis were only captured in the dry savanna ecoregion of MNP. Additionally, isotopic signatures for nitrogen were significantly lower in MNP (2.83 ± 0.17‰) compared to DNP (4.97 ± 0.33‰), indicating that small mammals occupied different trophic levels between ecoregions. The most common species, Praomys daltoni exhibited variation in isotopic signatures between ecoregions and land use, with higher δ15 N found within MNP boundaries. We found no distinction in δ13 C at the community or species level within or across protected areas. Ultimately, understanding shifts in the ecology of species can inform predictions about community structure and ecosystem function under future environmental and anthropogenic scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nyeema C Harris
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
| | - Reuben A Garshong
- Department of Animal Biology and Conservation Science, University of Ghana, Legon- Accra, Ghana
| | - Morgan Gray
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, USA
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Simelane FN, Mahlaba TA, Shapiro JT, MacFadyen D, Monadjem A. Habitat associations of small mammals in the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa. MAMMALIA 2017. [DOI: 10.1515/mammalia-2016-0130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Mountains provide important habitats for many species and often have high levels of biodiversity and endemism. Habitat associations of terrestrial small mammals were investigated at Wakefield Farm at the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa from July 2015 to January 2016. Sherman live traps were used to capture small mammals on 35 grids in six different habitats. A total of 472 individuals, from 14 species, were recorded, comprising: 10 rodents, three shrews and one golden mole. Species diversity differed across habitats and seasons. The riparian habitat had the highest species richness, diversity and abundance of small mammals. Species composition also differed across habitats with the indigenous forest and rocky outcrops supporting the most distinct assemblages.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Julie Teresa Shapiro
- School of Natural Resources and Environment , University of Florida , 103 Black Hall , Gainesville , FL 32611, USA
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation , University of Florida , 110 Newins-Ziegler Hall , Gainesville , FL 32611, USA
| | - Duncan MacFadyen
- Department Research and Conservation , E Oppenheimer & Son , P.O. Box 61631, Marshalltown , Johannesburg 2107 , South Africa
| | - Ara Monadjem
- Department of Biological Sciences , University of Swaziland , Private Bag 4 , Kwaluseni , Swaziland
- Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology & Entomology , University of Pretoria , Private Bag 20, Hatfield 0028 , Pretoria , South Africa
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Dupre S, Lambert T, Adler G, Hegde L, Kennedy E. Aggressive and investigative behaviors of two sympatric species of echimyid rodents, Proechimys semispinosus and Hoplomys gymnurus, in Central Panama. ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2015.1078414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- S.I. Dupre
- Department of Biology, Frostburg State University, 101 Braddock Road, Frostburg, MD, USA
- Current address: Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland: Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - T.D. Lambert
- Department of Biology, Frostburg State University, 101 Braddock Road, Frostburg, MD, USA
| | - G.H. Adler
- Department of Biology and Microbiology, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh WI, USA
| | - L.M. Hegde
- Department of Mathematics, Frostburg State University, 101 Braddock Road, Frostburg, MD, USA
| | - E.H. Kennedy
- Department of Psychology, Frostburg State University, 101 Braddock Road, Frostburg, MD, USA
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