TY - JOUR
T1 - Temporal fluctuation in shrub species preferences of two native rodents
T2 - The effect of infection status on habitat use
AU - Donoso, M. Isabel
AU - Fonturbel, Francisco E.
AU - Cares, Rocío A.
AU - Oda, Esteban
AU - Ramirez, Patricia A.
AU - Botto-Mahan, Carezza
N1 - Funding Information:
A. Bacigalupo, P. Correa, F. Gonz?lez, C. Jim?nez, A. L?pez, V. Manr?quez, M. Mart?nez, L. Moreno, N. Pe?a, T. Poch, M. Puebla, G. Rojo and A. Y??ez-Meza assisted in the field, and F. Pe?a in the laboratory. V. Ardiles and J. Arriagada of the Herbarium of National Museum of Natural History (SGO) provided preserved plant material and advice. We especially thank R. Medel, M.A. Sep?lveda, C. Gonz?lez-Browne and two anonymous reviewers for important suggestions to improve the clarity of early versions of this manuscript. We are grateful to F. Osorio and the Flora Chilena online encyclopaedia for the Schinus polygamus photograph. We thank CONAF-Illapel for logistic support. Financial support for this study was provided by FONDECYT 11090086 & 1140521 (CBM). EO and RAC were supported by CONICYT Doctoral and Master Fellowships, respectively. A CONICYT-Becas Chile Doctoral Scholarship supported PAR.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Ecological Society of Australia
PY - 2016/8/1
Y1 - 2016/8/1
N2 - Small mammals use plant species for gathering food resources and for shelter. Preferences for certain plant species are related to nutritional restrictions and behavioural patterns, which could be altered in the presence of an infectious disease. Several native small mammals are part of the wild cycle of the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, responsible for Chagas disease in humans. This is a vector-borne disease transmitted by insects of the subfamily Triatominae. We examined the effect of T. cruzi infection status on the use and preference patterns of shrub species by two native rodent species: Octodon degus and Phyllotis darwini. This study was conducted during four sampling years (2010–2013) in a hyper-endemic zone of Chagas disease located in a semiarid Mediterranean ecosystem. We captured individuals of 599 O. degus and 575 P. darwini (89% of the total captures), which were related to nine shrub species and examined for T. cruzi infection. In a community-level analysis, infected and non-infected O. degus used individual shrub species within the shrub community significantly non-randomly relative to their availability; the same pattern was detected for non-infected P. darwini individuals, whereas infected individuals used the shrub community according to the abundance of each shrub species. Examining individual preferences, both rodents showed a strong preference for Flourensia thurifera and Colliguaja odorifera regardless of their infection status. Preferences for specific shrub species were variable among years, showing a ‘core’ of preferred shrub species and variable levels of use of the remaining ones. Our results show that T. cruzi infection in wild small mammals can modify habitat use patterns and preferences for certain shrub species, probably affecting processes acting at community level.
AB - Small mammals use plant species for gathering food resources and for shelter. Preferences for certain plant species are related to nutritional restrictions and behavioural patterns, which could be altered in the presence of an infectious disease. Several native small mammals are part of the wild cycle of the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, responsible for Chagas disease in humans. This is a vector-borne disease transmitted by insects of the subfamily Triatominae. We examined the effect of T. cruzi infection status on the use and preference patterns of shrub species by two native rodent species: Octodon degus and Phyllotis darwini. This study was conducted during four sampling years (2010–2013) in a hyper-endemic zone of Chagas disease located in a semiarid Mediterranean ecosystem. We captured individuals of 599 O. degus and 575 P. darwini (89% of the total captures), which were related to nine shrub species and examined for T. cruzi infection. In a community-level analysis, infected and non-infected O. degus used individual shrub species within the shrub community significantly non-randomly relative to their availability; the same pattern was detected for non-infected P. darwini individuals, whereas infected individuals used the shrub community according to the abundance of each shrub species. Examining individual preferences, both rodents showed a strong preference for Flourensia thurifera and Colliguaja odorifera regardless of their infection status. Preferences for specific shrub species were variable among years, showing a ‘core’ of preferred shrub species and variable levels of use of the remaining ones. Our results show that T. cruzi infection in wild small mammals can modify habitat use patterns and preferences for certain shrub species, probably affecting processes acting at community level.
KW - Octodon degus
KW - Phyllotis darwini
KW - Trypanosoma cruzi
KW - infection-mediated plant-animal interaction
KW - wild cycle of Chagas disease
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959311539&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/aec.12338
DO - 10.1111/aec.12338
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84959311539
VL - 41
SP - 512
EP - 518
JO - Austral Ecology
JF - Austral Ecology
SN - 1442-9985
IS - 5
ER -