Nocturnal activity and habitat selection of Hotson Jerboa, Allactaga hotsoni Thomas, 1920 (Rodentia: Dipodidae)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22120/jwb.2017.27208Keywords:
Moon phases, Encounter rate, Predation risk, Habitat preferencesAbstract
Investigation about the activity pattern of the Hotson Jerboa with motorcycle and search light indicated that there is significant relationship between moon light intensity and encountering with the Hotson Jerboa’ or it’s trapping success. The results showed that the more moon light intensity the less the activity of this Jerboa. In the other word we can infer that the encounter rate with the individuals reaches its highest amount in the first and the last days of the lunar month and closing to the middle weeks of the month, they hardly can be detected. Although in completely cloudy nights even in the middle of the month the encounter rate increased as well. This is a predator-prey coevolutional mechanism that lowers the predation risk. Additionally, the activity shifted somewhat from the open to vegetation cover when the moon was high, however the least encounter rate was recorded in full moon status.
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