Patch use in a diurnal rodent

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dc.contributor.authorBozinovic, E
dc.contributor.authorVásquez, RA
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-21T01:31:52Z
dc.date.available2025-01-21T01:31:52Z
dc.date.issued1999
dc.description.abstract1. The role of physiological complexity in animal foraging ecology was investigated through experiments to determine how animals manage time and energy during patch use under thermoregulatory costs. The Degu Octodon degus (Molina 1782), a diurnal rodent inhabiting the semiarid environments of central Chile, was studied.
dc.description.abstract2. Previous studies reported that Degus are constrained to specific foraging areas mainly by limits to thermal tolerance and food quality. Predation risk may also be important. Because new evidence shows that physiological processes are important in shaping foraging ecology, it was hypothesized that Degu foraging behaviour is influenced by the risk of hyperthermia as well as by the advantages of gathering food efficiently.
dc.description.abstract3. Feeding trials were conducted in an experimental arena with food offered in an experimental patch containing sand and placed under a heater. Using video cameras, the overall time budget was measured, including frequency and duration of patch visits, and events of food gathering. Besides ambient temperature thigh or low), handling time was manipulated by using husked and unhusked sunflower seeds, and searching time by using two seed distributions.
dc.description.abstract4. Ambient temperature and husk state as well as ambient temperature and seed distribution interacted in their influence on both handling time and searching efficiency. These results imply that a thermally risky patch affects both parameters associated with patch use and diet selection and that this effect disappears when animals are not risking hyperthermia.
dc.description.abstract5. Degus decreased the frequency of patch visits under thermoregulatory costs. This behaviour resulted exclusively from the effect of ambient temperature. Data on time use suggest that direct exposure to higher environmental temperatures is avoided through changes in the duration of patch visits. Degus harvested food items in shorter foraging bouts when food was under a stressful thermal patch.
dc.description.abstract6. In conclusion, a time-minimizing foraging behaviour, in face of Degus' thermoregulatory physiology and related risks, was observed.
dc.fuente.origenWOS
dc.identifier.eissn1365-2435
dc.identifier.issn0269-8463
dc.identifier.urihttps://repositorio.uc.cl/handle/11534/97160
dc.identifier.wosidWOS:000084432300004
dc.issue.numero5
dc.language.isoen
dc.pagina.final610
dc.pagina.inicio602
dc.revistaFunctional ecology
dc.rightsacceso restringido
dc.subjectChilean matorral
dc.subjectforaging and thermal ecology
dc.subjectOctodon degus
dc.subjecttime and energy use
dc.subject.ods15 Life on Land
dc.subject.ods13 Climate Action
dc.subject.odspa15 Vida de ecosistemas terrestres
dc.subject.odspa13 Acción por el clima
dc.titlePatch use in a diurnal rodent
dc.typeartículo
dc.volumen13
sipa.indexWOS
sipa.trazabilidadWOS;2025-01-12
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