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Distribution and abundance of a tropical rodent, the spiny rat, on islands in Panama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Gregory H. Adler  and
Joshua O. Seamon
Gregory H. Adler
Affiliation:
Department of Population Sciences, School of Public Health, Harvard University, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA 02115, USA
Joshua O. Seamon
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cumminglon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA
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Abstract

The insular distribution and abundance of the spiny rat (Proechimys semispinosus) were studied by live-trapping rats on 50 small forested islands in Gatun Lake, Republic of Panama. Rats were found on 29 of these islands. Rat abundance was not correlated with island size or isolation, in contrast to temperate rodents, and may be due to the highly patchy nature of tropical forests and the differing floristic compositions of the study islands. Rat occurrence on islands was related positively to island size and negatively to island isolation. All islands greater than 2.1 ha contained spiny rats, whereas most islands less than 0.9 ha did not contain rats. The relationship between occurrence, size, and isolation are illustrated by a three-dimensional response surface. Results suggest that colonization and extinction regularly occur on these islands and that (1) larger islands with year-round fruit production, regardless of isolation, will have persistent populations of rats, (2) small isolated islands will never or only very rarely have rats owing to a lack of a year-round food source and the difficulty of immigration, and (3) small near islands frequently will have rats when fruits arc present. No other species of mouse-or rat-like rodents were captured on the islands. We suggest that P. semispinosus is a better colonist than other sympatric forest species, is more of a habitat generalist, and has a more flexible demographic structure allowing persistence in heterogeneous and changing environments.

Keywords

Gatun LakeislandsPanamaProechimys semispinosusrodentsspiny rat
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , August 1991 , pp. 349 - 360
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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