in this study, we investigated the importance of vegetation and elevation in the determination of the diversity and abundance of rodents in geno biosphere reserve, hormozgan province. the study area was divided into seven plant types and four elevation classes. the binary similarity coefficients were used for the investigation of the plant types similarity base on the presence of rodents. the m...

Understanding drivers of genetic diversity at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is vitally important for predicting how vertebrate immune defence might respond to future selection pressures and for preserving immunogenetic diversity in declining populations. Parasite-mediated selection is believed to be the major selective force generating MHC polymorphism, and while MHC-based mating p...

Emerging infectious diseases are a growing threat to human health and a great challenge for global medical attention systems. Governmental agencies in tropical regions with abundant zoonotic pathogens should implement an active vigilance/monitoring model in bat reservoir populations because of their species richness, abundance and dispersal capabilities. Chiropterans represent approximately 20%...

conclusions rodents play an important role in the transfer of zoonotic parasite diseases, especially those that live near human habitats. control of rodent population in the city should be considered to decrease risk of transmission. results all studied rodents were infected at least by one parasite. the collected parasites included: three species of cestodes, eight species of nematodes, one sp...

Torpor and reproduction in mammals and birds are widely viewed as mutually exclusive processes because of opposing energetic and hormonal demands. However, the reported number of heterothermic species that express torpor during reproduction is ever increasing, to some extent because of recent work on free-ranging animals. We summarize current knowledge about those heterothermic mammals that do ...

Summit metabolism (M sum), the maximum rate of resting metabolic thermogenesis, has been found to be broadly correlated with climatic variables and the use of heterothermy in some endotherms. Far less is known about M sum and metabolic expansibility [ME, the ratio of M sum to basal metabolic rate (BMR)] in bats compared with many other endotherm taxa. We measured BMR and M sum during winter and...

Through bomb calorimetry of known-age young bats, we have determined the energy cost of pregnancy and lactation in Myotis thysanodes and M. lucifugus finding that: 1. Energy demand during pregnancy is hyperbolic. 2. A very rapid increase in energy involved in embryo growth occurs during late pregnancy when the mothers are no longer homeothermic. 3. This increased energy demand occurs earlier pr...