Post-fire recovery of torpor and activity patterns of a small mammal

Title
Post-fire recovery of torpor and activity patterns of a small mammal
Publication Date
2017-05-17
Author(s)
Stawski, Clare
Hume, Taylor
Koertner, Gerhard
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8230-0709
Email: gkoertne@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:gkoertne
Currie, Shannon E
Nowack, Julia
Geiser, Fritz
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7621-5049
Email: fgeiser@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:fgeiser
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
The Royal Society Publishing
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1098/rsbl.2017.0036
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/51719
Abstract

To cope with the post-fire challenges of decreased availability of food and shelter, brown antechinus (Antechinus stuartii), a small marsupial mammal, increase the use of energy-conserving torpor and reduce activity. However, it is not known how long it takes for animals to resume pre-fire torpor and activity patterns during the recovery of burnt habitat. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that antechinus will adjust torpor use and activity after a fire depending on vegetation recovery. We simultaneously quantified torpor and activity patterns for female antechinus from three adjacent areas: (i) the area of a management burn 1 year post-fire, (ii) an area that was burned 2 years prior, and (iii) a control area. In comparison to shortly after the management burn, antechinus in all three groups displayed less frequent and less pronounced torpor while being more active. We provide the first evidence that only 1 year post-fire antechinus resume pre-fire torpor and activity patterns, probably in response to the return of herbaceous ground cover and foraging opportunities.

Link
Citation
Biology Letters, 13(5), p. 1-5
ISSN
1744-957X
1744-9561
Pubmed ID
28515330
Start page
1
End page
5

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