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Survivorship in Philopatric and Dispersing Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys Spectabilis)
Author(s) -
Jones W. Thomas
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1938519
Subject(s) - burrow , philopatry , survivorship curve , biology , ecology , biological dispersal , zoology , demography , population , genetics , cancer , sociology
I use long—term mark—recapture data for banner—tailed kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spectabilis) to assess survival of philopatric and dispersing individuals. Results for 147 juveniles indicate that individuals that acquired parental resources, in this case large complex burrow systems and food catches, were significantly more likely to survive to reproductive age than individuals that successfully dispersed but did not acquire parental resources. Survival of juveniles that left their natal burrows and moved to other burrows was independent of the distance moved, which suggests that familiarity with natal areas and proximity to relatives impart no survival advantage in this species. Of the 37 juveniles that acquired natal burrows, 5 males and 7 females did so after their mothers abandoned those burrows. The frequency of burrow abandonment by adult females was independent of maternal age, and survival of abandoning mothers did not differ significantly from that of nonabandoning females