Role of Predation and Plant-Small Mammal Interactions in theChilean Mediterranean Scrub Zone.

本项目的目标是研究 智利小型哺乳动物组合中的生物相互作用。 捕食，植物-小哺乳动物相互作用，种间 竞争正在研究与实验排除 食肉动物，以及最丰富的小型哺乳动物食草动物， 老鼠，从围栏围栏。 小型哺乳动物种群将 每月进行一次人口普查，并通过监测捕食者的饮食和活动 粪便/颗粒收集和分析，以及嗅觉线， 呼叫回放。 植物群落的变化与点 每4个月进行一次截距采样， 每年生长季节;土壤样本每4个月跟踪种子 密度 类似的初始条件也存在， 植物物种覆盖、组成或种子密度的变化 自1989年5月实验开始以来， 数字 捕食者排除区的degus在春季较高 （1989年9月至11月）：存活时间和存活率为 全年大幅上涨。 其他人的反应 小型哺乳动物物种与捕食者/德古动物物种的区别是混合的。 自2004年以来， 小型哺乳动物群落和植物群落可能是 长期的 这一大型项目代表了第一个长期- 温带新热带区生物相互作用长期研究 脊椎动物组合

The objective of this project are to examine the role of biotic interactions in a Chilean small mammal assemblage. Predation, plant-small mammal interactions, and interspecific competition are being studied with experimental exclusions of predators, and the most abundant small mammal herbivore, the degu rat, from fenced exclosures. Small mammal populations will be censused monthly, and predator diets and activity monitored by scat/pellet collections and analysis, and olfactory lines and call playbacks. Plant community changes are followed with point intercept sampling each 4 months, and monthly sampling during the annual growing season; soil samples every 4 months track seed densities. Similar initial conditions were present, and few changes in plant species cover, composition or seed densities have occurred since experiment initiation in May 1989. Numbers of degus in predator exclusion plots were higher during spring (September-November 1989): survival times and rates were significantly higher throughout the year. Responses of other small mammal species to predator/degu exclusions have been mixed. Continued support is requested for three years since changes in the small mammal assemblage and plant community are likely to be long-term. This large scale project represents the first long- term study of biotic interactions in a temperate Neotropical vertebrate assemblage.