Author:
Murray B. R.,Dickman C. R.,Watts C. H. S.,Morton S. R.
Abstract
Very little systematic information has been collected on the diets of
Australian rodents in arid and semiarid regions. The information that is
available is restricted generally to short periods of sampling and small
sample sizes. Here we review the diets of 15 extant and one extinct species of
Australian desert rodents, and provide new results of dietary analyses for (1)
Leggadina forresti,
Pseudomys desertorand
Rattus villosissimus from the Simpson Desert,
south-western Queensland, (2) P. albocinereus and
P. bolami from the western goldfields of Western
Australia, and (3) Notomys alexis,
P. desertor and
P. hermannsburgensis from the Tanami Desert, Northern
Territory. Overwhelmingly, omnivory is the predominant dietary strategy, with
most species (11) taking substantial amounts of invertebrate, seed and green
plant material. Of the other five species, four can be considered herbivores
and one a granivore. Of the four herbivores, however, one is extinct
(Leporillus apicalis), one is restricted to an offshore
island (Lep. conditor), while another
(P. fieldi) is classified as a herbivore from a diet
sample of four individuals only. Similarly,
P. occidentalis is classified as a granivore on the
basis of dietary sampling of two individuals alone. These findings indicate
that omnivory, over and above any other dietary strategy including granivory,
is predominant among rodents inhabiting Australian deserts.
Subject
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cited by
50 articles.
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