Movements and home ranges of radio-tracked Crocodylus porosus in the Cambridge Gulf region of Western Australia
Movements and home ranges of radio-tracked Crocodylus porosus in the Cambridge Gulf region of Western Australia
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DOI：
10.1071/wr04037
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发表时间：
2004-01-01
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
Kay, WR
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kay, WR
2001年10月至2003年5月期间，16条河口鳄鱼被贴上了甚高频无线电标签。男性（n = 12）和女性（n = 4）鳄鱼表现出明显不同的运动模式。女性占据了一个小的核心线性范围（1.3 +/- 0.9公里）的主要河道在旱季和移动到62公里的筑巢栖息地在雨季，返回到同一核心区域以下的旱季。在旱季，他们偶尔会离开他们的核心地区。雄性全年沿奥德河沿着迁移相当长的距离。记录的最大范围是一个2.5米的少年男性87公里。然而，男性的范围似乎并不与身体大小，最大的两个范围被记录为最小的（2.5米）和最大的（4.3米）男性标记。三个大小级别的雄性之间的运动速率没有显著差异，但存在显著的季节差异，最高的平均运动速率发生在夏季雨季（4.0 +/- 5.4 km天（-1））。然而，男性是相当移动的在旱季和运动的最高速率检测到23.3公里日（-1）为4.3米男性在7月底。最高的持续移动率为9.8公里/天（-1）的一个易位的2.6米的少年男性，在12天内旅行118公里返回其捕获的区域。无论是男性还是女性都没有表现出独特的栖息地偏好的任何四个广泛的河边栖息地确定的奥德河。然而，三只体型最大的雄性都有活动中心，尽管它们全年都在上游和下游进行了多次远足，但它们还是经常返回活动中心。男性有大量的范围重叠，没有明显的空间分区，这表明领土不是一个重要的行为特征，自由放养的雄性鳄鱼沿着奥德河。
VHF radio-tags were attached to 16 estuarine crocodiles that were tracked between October 2001 and May 2003. Male (n = 12) and female (n = 4) crocodiles exhibited distinctly different patterns of movement. Females occupied a small core linear range (1.3 +/- 0.9 km) on the main river channel during the dry season and moved up to 62 km to nesting habitat during the wet season, returning to the same core area the following dry season. They occasionally made excursions away from their core areas during the dry season. Males moved considerable distances along the Ord River throughout the year. The largest range recorded was 87 km for a 2.5-m juvenile male. However, ranges of males did not appear to be related to body size, with the largest two ranges being recorded for the smallest (2.5 m) and largest (4.3 m) males tagged. Rates of movement of males did not differ significantly between three size classes of males but there were significant seasonal differences, with the highest mean rates of movement occurring during the summer wet season (4.0 +/- 5.4 km day(-1)). However, males were quite mobile during the dry season and the highest rate of movement detected was 23.3 km day(-1) for a 4.3-m male at the end of July. The highest rate of sustained movement was 9.8 km day(-1) for a translocated 2.6-m juvenile male, which travelled 118 km in 12 days to return to the area of its capture. Neither males nor females showed exclusive habitat preferences for any of four broad riverine habitats identified on the Ord River. However, the three largest males had activity centres that they returned to frequently despite numerous excursions throughout the year, both up- and downriver. Males had substantial range overlaps with no obvious spatial partitioning, suggesting that territoriality is not an important behavioural characteristic of free-ranging male crocodiles along the Ord River.