Determinants of home range size and territoriality in small mammals

• Grant number: 14/05358-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2014
• End date: February 29, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Renata Pardini
• Grantee: Gabriela de Lima Marin
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Home range is the area used by an individual during its daily activities. When the home range or part of it is defended, it is called a territory. In theory, territorial defense should only occur when the benefits (e.g. exclusive access to food, shelter, or reproductive partners) outweigh the costs (i.e. time or energy spent, and risk of injury or death). Several ecological factors may influence this cost-benefit relationship, especially resource abundance and predictability, and population density. However, the influence of these factors depends on individual characteristics, such as sex and reproductive condition, that determine which and when resources become important. Due to the short lifecycle and the small size, small mammals are a good model for the study of territoriality from capture-recapture data obtained in trapping grids. Although several studies investigated the spatial patterns of this group, the majority did not analyze the determinants of territoriality. This project aims to investigate the relative importance and the interactions between environmental factors (population density, and abundance of food resources and of reproductive females) and individual characteristics (sex, reproductive condition) in determining the size of home range and territoriality (degree of home range overlap) for three Atlantic Forest rodents. For this purpose we will use an available dataset obtained from capture-recapture in three 2-ha grids over 21 months in the Morro Grande Forest Reserve. Data will be analyzed by generalized linear mixed-effects models and model selection based on the Akaike Information Criterion, considering individuals as sampling units, the environmental factors and individual characteristics as fixed factors, and trapping grids as random factors. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MARIN, Gabriela de Lima. Determinants of home range overlap in the Montane grass mouse (Akodon montensis): implications for territorial and mating systems. 2016. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) São Paulo.