Stawski Clare, Hume Taylor, Körtner Gerhard, Currie Shannon E, Nowack Julia, Geiser Fritz
Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, University of New England, Armidale 2351, New South Wales, Australia
Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, University of New England, Armidale 2351, New South Wales, Australia.
Biol Lett. 2017 May;13(5). doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0036.
To cope with the post-fire challenges of decreased availability of food and shelter, brown antechinus (), 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.
为应对火灾后食物和栖息地可用性下降的挑战，一种小型有袋哺乳动物褐袋鼩会增加使用节能的蛰伏状态并减少活动。然而，在烧毁的栖息地恢复过程中，动物需要多长时间才能恢复火灾前的蛰伏和活动模式尚不清楚。因此，我们检验了这样一个假设：袋鼩会在火灾后根据植被恢复情况调整蛰伏行为和活动。我们同时对来自三个相邻区域的雌性袋鼩的蛰伏和活动模式进行了量化：（i）火灾后1年的管理性火烧区域，（ii）两年前被烧毁的区域，以及（iii）一个对照区域。与管理性火烧后不久相比，所有三组中的袋鼩表现出蛰伏频率降低、程度减轻，同时活动增多。我们提供了首个证据，表明火灾后仅1年，袋鼩就恢复了火灾前的蛰伏和活动模式，这可能是对草本地面覆盖物和觅食机会恢复的反应。
