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Vertebrate diet decreases winter torpor use in a desert marsupial

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Abstract

One of the energetic benefits of daily torpor over prolonged hibernation is that it enables animals to regularly forage and, therefore, replenish food reserves between bouts of torpor. However, little is known about the diet of predators undergoing torpor or whether differences in prey composition among individuals influence torpor characteristics. Here, we test the hypothesis that prey composition affects winter torpor use and patterns of a population of carnivorous marsupial, the brush-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus blythi), in the Great Sandy Desert, Australia. Mulgaras in the study population captured a wide range of prey including vertebrates (mammals, reptiles, birds), seven insect orders, spiders and centipedes. The proportion of vertebrates in the diet was negatively correlated with both frequency of torpor use and maximum bout duration. This variation in torpor use with diet can be explained by the higher energetic content of vertebrates as well as their larger size. Even assuming uniform intake of prey biomass among individuals, those that subsisted on an invertebrate-dominated diet during winter apparently suffered energetic shortages as a result of the scarcity of invertebrate taxa with high energy content (such as insect larvae). Our study is the first to demonstrate a link between diet composition and daily torpor use in a free-ranging mammal.

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Acknowledgements

We thank numerous staff at the Queensland Museum, especially Patrick Couper and Susan Wright, for assistance during the identification of dietary items. We are grateful to Greg Fye for identifying reptile material and Barbara Triggs for identifying mammal hair in scats. Jim Clayton provided much appreciated logistic support and field assistance during the radio-tracking study. Parks Australia and the traditional owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park gave permission to carry out the study. Financial assistance was provided by the Australian Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, University of New England, Armidale, 2351, Australia

    Chris R. Pavey, Gerhard Körtner & Fritz Geiser

  2. Queensland Museum, P.O. Box 3300, South Brisbane, 4101, Australia

    Chris R. Pavey & Chris J. Burwell

  3. Biodiversity Conservation, Northern Territory Government, P.O. Box 1120, Alice Springs, 0871, Australia

    Chris R. Pavey

  4. Centre for Innovative Conservation Strategies and Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Nathan, 4111, Australia

    Chris J. Burwell

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  1. Chris R. Pavey
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  2. Chris J. Burwell
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  3. Gerhard Körtner
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  4. Fritz Geiser
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Correspondence to Chris R. Pavey.

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Pavey, C.R., Burwell, C.J., Körtner, G. et al. Vertebrate diet decreases winter torpor use in a desert marsupial. Naturwissenschaften 96, 679–683 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0516-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0516-y

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