Home-range and space use by Didelphis albiventris (Lund 1840) (Marsupialia, Didelphidae) in Mutum Island, Paraná river, Brazil

Authors

  • Vítor Quadros Altomare Sanches Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação
  • Mariuciy Menezes de Arruda Gomes Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação
  • Fernando de Camargo Passos Universidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Zoologia, Laboratório de Biodiversidade, Conservação e Ecologia de Animais Silvestres
  • Gustavo Graciolli Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação
  • Augusto Cesar de Aquino Ribas Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação

Keywords:

Atlantic Forest, capture-recapture, minimum convex polygon, vertical habitat use, white-eared-opossum

Abstract

Home-range is the area used by an animal in its daily activities. Home-range studies provide data on species mating systems and territorial behavior. Our main goal was to estimate the Didelphis albiventris (Lund 1840) home-range in Mutum Island, Paraná River, Brazil. The study was carried out in 2008 from March to October on a 19.20 ha grid. The island is part of the Parana River Islands and Floodlands Federal Environmental Protection Area, with vegetation composed by Alluvial Semideciduous Seasonal Forest in a region of Subtropical Wet climate. The sampling effort was 3,360 traps-night resulting in 152 Didelphis albiventris (Lund 1840) captures. Forty-one Didelphis albiventris (Lund 1840) individuals were captured in 42 capture stations, composed by a trap placed on the floor and another in understory (2 m high). The animals were mostly terrestrial, independently of age or sex. Four females and five males, which were recaptured at least five times, were used to calculate home-range using the minimum convex polygon method. The mean home-range estimate was 2.33 ± 2.32 ha, similar to previous estimates provided by other methods, suggesting that our capture grid area, that was larger than usually applied for mark-capture studies for this species, have not underestimated the home-ranges. Evidences of the relation between individual home-range area and body mass were observed. Home-range overlaps occurred between males, females and males with females; the average overlap was 33.74%, which may be related to a promiscuous mating system, and suggests female territoriality.

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Published

2012-12-01

How to Cite

Sanches, V. Q. A., Gomes, M. M. de A., Passos, F. de C., Graciolli, G., & Ribas, A. C. de A. (2012). Home-range and space use by Didelphis albiventris (Lund 1840) (Marsupialia, Didelphidae) in Mutum Island, Paraná river, Brazil. Biota Neotropica, 12(4). Retrieved from //www.biotaneotropica.org.br/BN/article/view/1023

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