Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Titre : THE ROLE OF MICROHABITAT IN STRUCTURING DESERT RODENT COMMUNITIES

Auteur : Price, Mary V. (Mary Vaughan)

Université de soutenance : University of Arizona

Grade : Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 1976

Résumé
Competition is thought to play a central role in determining patterns of resource use and species abundances in natural communities. Nevertheless, as yet we do not know the extent to which competition for scarce resources can determine the structure of multi-species assemblages. Enclosure experiments were used to see if resource use by seed eating desert rodents changed in response to the presence of competitors. In addition, perturbation experiments assessed the effect of resource availability on species abundances. Results suggest that competition maintains interspecific differences in the microhabitats from which seeds are gathered, and that the availability of appropriate microhabitats determines patterns of species abundances on a local scale.

Mots clés : Desert ecology — Arizona. ; Desert animals — Arizona.

Présentation

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