干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Activity of tjakura (great desert skinks) at burrows in relation to plant cover and predators

Arid

DOI	10.1002/ece3.10391
	Activity of tjakura (great desert skinks) at burrows in relation to plant cover and predators
	Ridley, Jenna C. H.; Schlesinger, Christine A.
通讯作者	Schlesinger, CA
来源期刊	ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
ISSN	2045-7758
出版年	2023
卷号	13 期号:8
英文摘要	Increased predation where ground cover is reduced after severe wildfire is increasingly implicated as a factor causing decline of vulnerable prey populations. In arid central Australia, one species detrimentally affected by repeated wildfire is the great desert skink or tjakura (Liopholis kintorei), a distinctive lizard of the central Australian arid zone that constructs and inhabits multi-entranced communal burrows. We aimed to test whether tjakura or predator activity at burrow entrances varied with cover and how tjakura respond to predator presence. Using time-lapse photography, we monitored tjakura and predator activity at the largest entrance of 12 burrows ranging from high (>70%) to low (<50%) cover and at multiple entrances of two other burrows. Overall activity did not vary between burrows with high and low cover. Within burrow systems tjakura were more active at sparsely vegetated entrances, often sitting wholly or partly inside the burrow. However, consistent between and within burrow systems, skinks spent proportionally more time fully outside where cover was higher. Predators-mostly native-were detected at most burrows, with no apparent relationship between predator activity and cover. Skinks also did not appear to modify their activity in response to predator visits. Our results indicate that tjakura may spend more time outside burrow entrances when cover is higher but there was no direct evidence that this related to perceived or real predation risk. Differences in food availability, thermoregulatory opportunities and opportunities for ambush foraging associated with differences in vegetation cover or composition are other factors likely to be important in determining the activity of tjakura at burrows. Our research demonstrates the usefulness of camera traps for behavioural studies of ectothermic burrowing animals. The complex relationships between tjakura activity and vegetation cover thereby revealed, suggest outcomes of fire-mediated habitat change on predator-prey interactions are not easily predictable.
英文关键词	activity burrow camera trapping desert Liopholis kintorei predator
类型	Article
语种	英语
开放获取类型	gold, Green Published
收录类别	SCI-E
WOS记录号	WOS:001041197700001
WOS关键词	BEHAVIOR ; ABUNDANCE ; SYSTEMS ; FIRE
WOS类目	Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology
WOS研究方向	Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/396018
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Ridley, Jenna C. H.,Schlesinger, Christine A.. Activity of tjakura (great desert skinks) at burrows in relation to plant cover and predators[J],2023,13(8).
APA	Ridley, Jenna C. H.,&Schlesinger, Christine A..(2023).Activity of tjakura (great desert skinks) at burrows in relation to plant cover and predators.ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION,13(8).
MLA	Ridley, Jenna C. H.,et al."Activity of tjakura (great desert skinks) at burrows in relation to plant cover and predators".ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION 13.8(2023).