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Ecological evidence of hierarchy and competition in Didelphis aurita females

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Abstract

Social behavior studies in mammals are commonly found in the literature. However, nothing is known on the hierarchical relationships of American marsupials, which are mainly composed of cryptic, nocturnal species. We aim to examine the existence of a domination and subordination relationship among Didelphis aurita females. For such purpose, we used capture and recapture data of five resident female individuals in a forest patch for 1 year. Comparative analyses among females were performed in relation to the temporal variation in body size, the spatial segregation in their home ranges, and the individual differences in their diets, all focusing on hierarchical relationships. Behavioral differences were observed between the hypothetically dominant female and other resident females, corroborating the hypothesis of hierarchy among D. aurita females. The dominant female presented larger home range, larger territory, stronger dominance over the patch center, and a mostly different diet regarding young females. Its diet changed from specific food items to a more diversified strategy in the following season, possibly due to the increased competition among adult females during the breeding season. After the disappearance of the dominant female, the central patch area was invaded by another large-sized, well-conditioned, and older female that lived in peripheral areas of the patch. Although the data are from a limited number of individuals and while we think that dominance hierarchy is the most likely explanation for the patterns observed, other interpretations are also possible, and further studies with more data and individuals are needed, to confirm the existence of dominance hierarchy in this species.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The codes used in our analyses are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Companhia Paranaense de Energia (COPEL) for the authorization to use the study area at Curitiba during the master dissertation research of Nilton Cáceres at UFPR. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brasil (CAPES)-Finance Code 001 to MNB. NCC is a Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPQ) research fellow in Brazil (process number 313.191/2018-2).

Funding

This study was financed in part by the “Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brazil (CAPES)”-Finance Code 001 to MNB. Nilton Cáceres is supported by the “Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPQ)” in Brazil (research fellow, process number 313.191/2018-2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, CCNE, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, 97105-900, Brazil

    Mariana do Nascimento Brum & Geruza Leal Melo

  2. Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Farroupilha, Alegrete, RS, 97555-000, Brazil

    Geruza Leal Melo

  3. Departamento de Ecologia e Evolução, CCNE, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, 97105-900, Brazil

    Nilton Carlos Cáceres

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  1. Mariana do Nascimento Brum
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  2. Geruza Leal Melo
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Contributions

NCC and MNB contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection was performed by NCC. Material preparation was performed by MNB. Analyses were performed by MNB and GLM. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nilton Carlos Cáceres.

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All applicable international and/or national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed (Sikes et al. 2019). Although there was no institutional ethical committee (this was created only in 2003: http://www.bio.ufpr.br/portal/ceua/home/) during the time animals were sampled (1995), the authors (NCC) followed the best practices of animal care (e.g., when capturing and marking) during the animal manipulation (see Sikes el al. 2019). These included shelter over traps to protect captured animals from environmental conditions, revision of traps during early morning (because the focal species is nocturnal), gently handling the animals for data record, and assuring a safe animal release after handling.

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Brum, M.d., Melo, G.L. & Cáceres, N.C. Ecological evidence of hierarchy and competition in Didelphis aurita females. Mamm Biol 102, 1709–1721 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-022-00269-9

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