Reduced starvation risks and habitat constraints promote cooperation in the common mole-rat, Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus: A computer-simulated foraging model

Oikos

Volumn 85, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 435-444

  Spinks, A C ^a,b   Plaganyi E E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN   (South Africa)

^b UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FORAGING EFFICIENCY; MODEL; RODENT; STARVATION;

BATHYERGIDAE; CRYPTOMYS; CRYPTOMYS HOTTENTOTUS; CRYPTOMYS HOTTENTOTUS HOTTENTOTUS; RODENTIA;

EID: 0344849469     PISSN: 00301299     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3546693     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. Andersen, D. C. 1982. Belowground herbivory: the adaptive geometry of geomyid burrows. Am. Nat. 119: 18-28.
2. Andersen, D. C. 1987. Geomys bursarius burrowing patterns: influence of season and food patch structure. - Ecology 68: 1306-1318.
3. Bennett, N. C. 1988. The trend towards sociality in three species of southern African mole-rats (Bathyergidae): causes and consequences. - PhD thesis, Univ. Cape Town.
4. Bennett, N. C. 1989. The social structure and reproductive biology of the common mole-rat, Crypotmys hottentotus hottentotus, and remarks on the trends in reproduction and sociality in the family Bathyergidae. - J. Zool. 219: 45-59.
5. Brett, R. A. 1986. The ecology and behaviour of the naked mole-rat (Heterochephalus glaber Rüppell) (Rodentia: Bathyergidae). - PhD thesis, Univ. London.
6. Brett, R. A. 1991. The ecology of naked mole-rat colonies: burrowing, food, and limiting factors. - In: Sherman, P. W., Jarvis, J. U. M. and Alexander, R. D. (eds), The biology of the naked mole-rat. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ, pp. 137-184.
7. Caraco, T. 1980. On foraging time allocation in a stochastic environment. - Ecology 61: 119-128.
8. Caraco, T. 1981. Risk-sensitivity and foraging groups. - Ecology 62: 527-531.
9. Caraco, T. and Lima, S. L. 1985. Foraging juncos: interaction of reward mean and variability. - Anim. Behav. 33: 216-224.
10. Caraco, T., Martindale, S. and Whittam, T. S. 1980. An empirical demonstration of risk-sensitive foraging preferences. - Anim. Behav. 28: 820-830.
11. Davies, K. C. and Jarvis, J. U. M. 1986. The burrow systems and burrowing dynamics of the mole-rats Bathyergus suillus and Cryptomys hottentotus in the fynbos of the southwestern Cape, South Africa. - J. Zool. 209: 125-147.
12. Davis, W. H. and Kalisz, P. J. 1992. Burrow systems of the priarie vole, Microtus ochrogaster, in central Kentucky. -J. Mammal. 73: 582-585.
13. Du Toit, J. T., Jarvis, J. U. M. and Louw, G. N. 1985. Nutrition and burrowing energetics of the Cape mole-rat Georychus capensis. - Oecologia 66: 81-87.
14. Genelly, R. E. 1965. Ecology of the common mole-rat (Cryptomys hottentotus) in Rhodesia. - J. Mammal. 46: 647-665.
15. Haim, A. and Fairall, N. 1986. Physiological adaptations to the subterranean environment by the mole rat Cryptomys hottentotus. - Cimbebasia (A) 8: 49-53.
16. Heth, G. 1989. Burrow patterns of the mole rat Spalax ehrenbergi in two soil types (terra-rossa and rendzina) in Mount Carmel, Israel. - J. Zool. 217: 39-56.
17. Holekamp, K. E. and Smale, L. 1995. Rapid change in offspring sex ratios after clan fission in the spotted hyena. -Am. Nat. 145: 261-278.
18. Jarvis, J. U. M. 1978. Energetics of survival Heterocephalus glaber (Rüppell), the naked mole-rat (Rodentia: Bathyergidae). - Bull. Carnegie Mus. Nat. Hist. 6: 81-87.
19. Jarvis, J. U. M. and Bennett, N. C. 1990. The evolutionary history, population biology and social structure of the African mole-rats: Family Bathyergidae. - In: Nevo, E. and Reig, O. A. (eds), Evolution of subterranean mammals at the organismal and molecular levels. Wiley-Liss, New York, pp. 97-128.
20. Jarvis, J. U. M. and Bennett, N. C. 1991. Ecology and behaviour of the family Bathyergidae. - In: Sherman, P.W., Jarvis, J. U. M. and Alexander, R. D. (eds), The biology of the naked mole-rat. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ, pp. 66-96.
21. Jarvis, J. U. M., O'Riain, M. J., Bennett, N. C. and Sherman, P. W. 1994. Mammalian eusociality: a family affair. Trends Ecol. Evol. 9: 47-51.
22. Jarvis, J. U. M., Bennett, N. C. and Spinks, A. C. 1998. Food availability and foraging by wild colonies of Damaraland mole-rats: implications for sociality. - Oecologia 113: 290-298.
23. Lacey, E. A. and Sherman, P. W. 1997. Cooperative breeding in naked mole-rats: implications for vertebrate and invertebrate sociality. - In: Solomon, N. G. and French, J. A. (eds), Cooperative breeding in mammals. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, pp. 267-301.
24. Lovegrove, B. G. 1989. The cost of burrowing by the social mole-rats (Bathyergidae) Cryptomys damarensis and Heterocephalus glaber: the role of soil moisture. - Physiol. Zool. 62: 449-469.
25. Lovegrove, B. G. 1991. The evolution of eusociality in molerats (Bathyergidae). A question of risks, numbers, and costs. - Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 28: 37-45.
26. Lovegrove, B. G. and Jarvis, J. U. M. 1986. Coevolution between mole-rats (Bathyergidae) and a geophyte. Micranthus (Iridaceae). - Cimbebasia (A) 8: 79-85.
27. Lovegrove, B. G. and Painting, S. 1987. Variations in the foraging behaviour and burrow structures of the Damara molerat Cryptomys damarensis in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. - Koedoe 30: 149-163.
28. Lovegrove, B. G. and Knight-Eloff, A. 1988. Soil and burrow temperatures, and the resource characteristics of the social mole-rat Cryptomys damarensis (Bathyergidae) in the Kalahari desert. - J. Zool. 216: 403-416.
29. Lovegrove, B. G. and Wissel, C. 1988. Sociality in molerats: metabolic scaling and the role of risk-sensitivity. - Oecologia 74: 600-606.
30. Nevo, E. 1979. Adaptive convergence and divergence of subterranean mammals. - Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 10: 269-308.
31. Real, L., Ott, J. and Silverfine, E. 1982. On the tradeoff between the mean and variance in foraging: effect of spatial distribution and colour preferences. - Ecology 63: 1617-1623.
32. Reichman, O. J., Whitman, T. G. and Ruffner, G. A. 1982. Adaptive geometry of burrow spacing in two pocket gopher populations. - Ecology 63: 687-695.
33. Skinner, J. D. and Smithers, R. H. N. 1990. The mammals of the southern African subregion. - Univ. Pretoria Press, Pretoria.
34. Sparks, D. W. and Andersen, D. C. 1988. The relationship between habitat quality and mound building by a fossorial rodent, Geomys bursarius. - J. Mammal. 69: 583-587.
35. Spinks, A. C. 1998. Sociality in the common mole-rat Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus: the effects of aridity. - PhD thesis, Univ. Cape Town.
36. Thompson, W. A., Vertinsky, A. I. and Krebs, J. R. 1975. The survival value of flocking: a simulation study. - J. Anim. Ecol. 43: 785-803.
37. Vleck, D. 1979. The energy cost of burrowing by the pocket gopher Thomomys bottae. - Physiol. Zool. 52: 122-136.
38. Vleck, D. 1981. Burrow system structure and foraging costs in the fossorial rodent Thomomys bottae. - Oecologia 49: 391-396.
39. Weissburg, M. 1986. Risky business: on the ecological relevance of risk-sensitive foraging. - Oikos 46: 261-262.