Title
Diet of Sigmodontine rodents (Cricetidae) in tropical montane forests from Huánuco, Peru
Other title
Dieta de roedores sigmodontinos (Cricetidae) en los bosques montanos tropicales de Huánuco, Perú.
Date Issued
2012
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
Publisher(s)
Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
Abstract
We analyzed the stomach contents of five species of sigmodontine rodents: Akodon orophilus, Microryzomys altissimus, M. minutus, Thomasomys notatus, and T. kalinowskii, from mountain forests of Huánuco, Perú (2564 - 3850 m). We found that A. orophilus is an insectivorous species because the high volume of arthropods (adults and larvae) in the stomach contents (90.1%); T. notatus and T. kalinowskii are primarily herbivorous because they had a high volume of plant material of 89% and 67.75% respectively; whereas M. altissimus and M. minutus are omnivorous because they presented similar volume percentages for plants and arthropods. T. kalinowskii is considered a generalist species because it had the highest niche breadth (4.61), whereas A. orophilus is considered a specialist because it had the lowest value (1.70). Akodon orophilus registered a low coefficient of variation (CV= 20%) showing a preference for consuming adult arthropod, and also a significatively high consumption of arthropod larvae in the wet season, being the only species with a seasonal variation in the diet. On the other hand, the niche overlap was less than 0.75 in 80% of species pairs indicating low similarity in the diet, but greater than 0.75 between M. altissimus - T. notatus (0.822) and M. minutus - T. kalinowskii (0.816) suggesting a higher diet similarity. We conclude that these sigmodontine rodents, sympatric in the montane forests of Huánuco, exhibit dissimilar diets, probably as a strategy to prevent or lessen interspecific competition.
Start page
317
End page
322
Volume
19
Issue
3
Language
Spanish
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencia animal, Ciencia de productos lácteos Biología (teórica, matemática, térmica, criobiología, ritmo biológico), Biología evolutiva
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84892831414
Source
Revista Peruana de Biologia
ISSN of the container
15610837
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus