We found 26 dens belonging to 12 packs where at least one wolf had been collared as part of a long-term ecological study of selleck chemical the wolves in the study area. Generalized linear mixed effect models (lmer) were constructed to explain the location of den sites in terms of their distance from human-modified areas such as built-up areas, roads and agricultural
land. Natural factors such as forest type, ground vegetation and the presence of a water source were also considered. Our results highlighted the significance of human-modified areas in breeding site selection by boreal wolves in boreal forests. The results also indicated that hiding cover and sight distance are highly important factors for den site selection, whereas the forest type was of negligible importance. “
“Red-tailed phascogales Phascogales calura are near-threatened (Friend, 2008) click here arboreal Dasyurids. A breeding programme was established at Alice Springs Desert Park in 2001 to aid species recovery. Twenty-five captive-bred phascogales were released into a suitable
habitat at the park in 2006. If shown to be successful, the initial release was to be expanded with the release of further captive-bred phascogales into a suitable habitat in the nearby National Park and into South Australia. In this study, a dietary analysis was conducted to determine the preferred diet of the translocated phascogales in the park environment.
Scats were collected during July–October, 2006 and January–March, 2007 from nesting sites within the park. Faecal samples were weighed, soaked in hot water and particles were separated through sieves before examination RVX-208 under a microscope. Scat analysis methods identified that red-tailed phascogales were primarily insectivorous with 92.6% of all scats containing arthropods. They are also opportunistic predators within the park, consuming birds (51.6%), small mammals (33.3%) and on occasion reptiles, and plant material (27.4%). Seasonal comparison of data through SIMPER analyses showed there was significant variation (P=0.009) between spring and summer, due to a large portion of birds present in the diet in spring. The red-tailed phascogale is able to exploit a number of prey types and it is therefore likely that they would survive a ‘hard’ translocation into the wild provided the site chosen has adequate food supply. “
“Fault bars are translucent areas across feathers grown under stressful conditions. They are ubiquitous across avian species and feather tracts. Because fault bars weaken feather structure and can lead to feather breakage, they may reduce flight performance and lower fitness. Therefore, natural selection might prime mechanisms aimed at reducing the cost of fault bars, penalizing their occurrence in those feathers more relevant for flight.
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