Rodent Societies: An Ecological & Evolutionary Perspective

research is needed to evaluate the role and evolution of so- cial thermoregulation in marmots. Costs of Group Living One potenti ...

Arnold 1999). Progesterone decreased, and there was only slight evidence of infanticide. However, male takeover may result in in ...

through its effect on the age of first reproduction is a major demographic mechanism of population dynamics. Retro- spective ana ...

suppresses the reproduction of subordinates. This loss of reproduction is the major cost of sociality. A major benefit is increa ...

D eserts are difficult placesin which to live. Animals must survive and reproduce under ex- treme and unpredictable environmenta ...

Factors Influencing Social Behavior of Desert Rodents Physiological constraints High temperatures and limited water are perhaps ...

Table 31.1 A comparison of sociality, vegetative cover, feeding adaptations, pattern of activity, mode of locomotion and body ma ...

are able to excavate burrows to locate the smaller, more evenly dispersed underground vegetation without the coop- eration of co ...

Most species of gerbil footdrum when they are disturbed (Randall 2001). Whether they drum in response to preda- tors is unknown. ...

when he engages in nasogenital circling and smells the vagi- nal opening or when he is allowed to mount. These behav- iors may g ...

could lead to a more complex social system (Linn 1984). Thus a comparison of behavior of closely related solitary species could ...

of their lives, the same neighbors may share overlapping areas for extended periods (Zeng and Brown 1987; Jones 1989; Randall 19 ...

Although behavioral observations provided reliable evi- dence that femaleD. spectabilismated with neighbors (Ran- dall 1991a), D ...

tail to understand some of the dynamics of group living in desert habitats. These two species are the great gerbil, R. opimus,in ...

Conclusions Water scarcity, extreme temperatures, and unpredictable and limited productivity of food place broad constraints on ...

species. An apparent advantage to group living in the great gerbil is the detection of predators and warning of group members vi ...

Figure 32.1 Rats, like mice, are commensal, literally meaning “eating at the same table.” Photo by M. Berdoy. R ats and miceprov ...

for geneticists, whereas rats have been used as a model for a wide range of biomedical endeavors, from psychology to biochemistr ...

with exclusive male ranges overlapping those of several fe- males. In rich environments, where food is abundant and clumped (suc ...

are more often at densities approaching 1,000/ha (Pearson 1963). Outbreaks of field populations of mice are common in the main c ...