—Populations of a common burrowing rodent, Microtus californicus (the California vole), thrive in ungrazed or lightly grazed grasslands in coastal California. Two sites ungrazed by livestock, one dominated by native perennial grasses and another dominated by invasive annuals, were evaluated over 2 consecutive years for the relationship between plant species richness and location of M. californi...

Intertidal mudflats are highly productive ecosystems that impose severe environmental challenges on their occupants due to tidal oscillations and extreme shifts in habitat conditions. Reproduction on mudflats requires protection of developing eggs from thermal and salinity extremes, O(2) shortage, dislodgement by currents, siltation and predation. Mudskippers are air-breathing, amphibious fishe...

Increasing urbanisation and growth of many wild animal populations can result in a greater frequency of human-wildlife conflicts. However, traditional lethal methods of wildlife control are becoming less favoured than non-lethal approaches, particularly when problems involve charismatic species in urban areas. Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) excavate subterranean burrow systems (setts), which ca...

A major challenge to understanding the genetic basis of complex behavioral evolution is the quantification of complex behaviors themselves. Deer mice of the genus Peromyscus vary in their burrowing behavior, which leaves behind a physical trace that is easily preserved and measured. Moreover, natural burrowing behaviors are recapitulated in the lab, and there is a strong heritable component. He...

s presented in this symposium were written by graduate students in the Univers ity of Hawaii Department of Zoology, 2538 The Mall, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. the spati al pattern of the population was rand om. Of the remaining three populations, two showed a pattern of agg regation and one showed a patte rn of uniformity. Both sex and age differences were present in burrowing behavior and burrow s...

Rodent burrows are often assumed to be environments wherein the air has a high concentration of CO₂. Although high burrow [CO₂] has been recorded, many studies report burrow [CO₂] that differs only slightly from atmospheric concentrations. Here, we advocate that one of the reasons for these differences is the penetration into burrows of air gusts (eddies), which originate in the turbulent bound...

Activities of burrowing herbivores, including movement of soil and litter and deposition of waste material, can alter the distribution of labile carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in soil, affecting spatial patterning of nutrient dynamics in ecosystems where they are abundant. Their role in ecosystem processes in surface soil has been studied extensively, but effects of burrowing species on processes ...

The yellow-bellied marmot spends approximately 80% of its life in a burrow. Burrows provide protection from the rigors of the environment, predators and other marmots. They provide a hibernaculum in winter and may function as a nursery in summer. Selection of a burrow site is therefore an important aspect in the biology of marmots. Measurements were made on direction of exposure, angle of slope...

Coastal marine sediments are important sites of methylmercury (MMHg) production, and dissolved efflux provides an important source of MMHg to near-shore, and possibly offshore, water columns and food webs. We measured the flux of MMHg across the sediment-water interface at four stations in Boston Harbor that span a range of infaunal population densities and bioirrigation intensities. At each st...

Abstract Cementation factor has a crucial role in evaluating volumetric reserves for heterogeneous clastic reservoir. Bioturbation is prominent source of heterogeneity existing hydrocarbon-bearing formation across the world. The effect bioturbation on petrophysical properties not been comprehensively understood yet, especially its cementation estimation. precise description such beneficial deve...