U.S.-Sweden Cooperative Research: Ecological Adaptation Concerning Sodium Usage by Large Mammals Under Seasonally Stressful Environmental Conditions

该奖项将支持明尼苏达大学圣保罗分校的Peter A. Jordan教授和他的一名研究生之间的合作研究。Ake Pehrson和Goren Cederlund， Grimso野生动物研究站，Riddarhyttan，瑞典。他们将研究有关野生有蹄类动物，特别是驼鹿饮食中钠含量的理论和应用问题。乔丹博士早期的研究表明，钠对北美北方地区的驼鹿和其他食草动物来说可能是一种有限的资源，因为它在正常的陆地饲料中很稀缺。乔丹博士最近一直在研究这些动物与瑞典同行在自然条件下的钠关系，以及研究人员提供钠源（盐块）的动物。这项研究将关注在提供钠的植物稀缺的寒冷时期，哺乳动物食草动物的范围有多大。格里姆索研究站提供了优良的设施，通过遥测技术监测动物行为，并对圈养驼鹿进行喂养实验。这项合作提议为美国研究人员提供了一个机会，可以利用国外高度专业化的设施，而这些设施在美国是不容易获得的。研究人员将对动物进行生理检查，并进行人口普查，以更好地了解大型动物如何在紧张的环境条件下生存。

This award will support collaborative research between Professor Peter A. Jordan, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, and one of his graduate students with Drs. Ake Pehrson and Goren Cederlund, Grimso Wildlife Research Station, Riddarhyttan, Sweden. They will examine theoretical and applied questions concerning the amount of sodium in the diets of wild ungulates, particulary moose. Dr. Jordan's earlier work has shown that sodium may be a limiting resource for moose and other herbivores in North American boreal regions, because of its scarcity in normal terrestrial forages. Dr. Jordan has recently been studying sodium relationships in these animals with his Swedish counterparts under natural conditions and those in which sodium sources (salt blocks) are provided by the researchers. This research will be concerned with how large mammalian herbivore scope with cold periods when plants which provide sodium are scarce. The research station at Grimso provides excellent facilities to monitor animal behavior by telemetry and to conduct feeding experiments with captive moose. The proposed cooperation presents the U.S. investigator with an opportunity to use highly specialized facilities abroad that are not easily available to him in the U.S. The researchers will carry out physiological examinations of the animals, as well as conduct population censuses to understand better how large animals survive under stressful environmental, conditions.