The locomotory activity rhythm of the spiny mouse,<i><scp>A</scp>comys spinosissimus</i>from southern<scp>A</scp>frica: light entrainment and endogenous circadian rhythms

Hoole, C.; Oosthuizen, Maria K.; Chimimba, Christian T.; Bennett, Nigel C.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2012.00928.x

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(50 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Findings of this study are similar to that observed in the common spiny mouse (Weber and Hohn, 2005) as well as both the African and Cape spiny mice (Hoole et al, 2012;Powell et al, 1981). The predominantly nocturnal activity pattern has also been demonstrated in a number of heterospecific jirds and gerbils that occur sympatrically with the Arabian spiny mouse, intimating that activity at night is an important strategy for survival in this harsh and inhospitable environment (Alagaili et al, 2012;Alagaili et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…It appears that the locomotor activity of three species have previously been investigated, the common spiny mouse (A. cahirinus), the golden spiny mouse (A. russatus) and the African spiny mouse (A. spinosissimus). The common and African spiny mice have been shown to be strictly nocturnal (Hoole et al, 2012;Weber and Hohn, 2005), whereas the golden spiny mouse appears to be diurnal in its natural habitat (Cohen and Kronfeld-Schor, 2006). The diurnal activity pattern of the golden spiny mouse has been ascribed to competitive exclusion and thermoregulatory considerations and intra-specific activity rhythms are much more variable than in the other species (Cohen and Kronfeld-Schor, 2006;Hoole et al, 2012;Weber and Hohn, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Down in the Wadi: The locomotory activity rhythm of the Arabian spiny mouse, Acomys dimidiatus from the Arabian Peninsula

Alagaili

Mohammed

Bennett

et al. 2014

Journal of Arid Environments

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The circadian rhythm of locomotory activity in the Arabian spiny mouse, a desert living species, was investigated under controlled laboratory conditions. Ten individuals were subjected to successive light cycles. When subjected to a 12L:12D light cycle, locomotor activity was confined mainly to the dark phase (mean 94.2% ±1.6%). During a period of constant darkness (DD), all animals expressed free running rhythms of locomotor activity (mean 23h49 ± 0h04). Following a second LD cycle, the light and dark phases were inversed (12D:12L). Activity shifted with the lights and was masked during the light phase, reentrainment was rather slow (up to 10 days). The effect of varying ambient temperature (20 to 35 o C) on the locomotor activity under a 12L:12D cycle revealed that temperature had no distinct effect on the level of locomotor activity. When the dark component of the day was lengthened to 8L:16D, the mean percentage of activity during the dark increased to 96.0 ± 0.8 %, while a significant decrease in night time activity was observed when the dark phase length was decreased to 16L:8D (78.29 ± 2.52%). The Arabian spiny mouse therefore behaves as other desert dwelling rodents and can be described as truly nocturnal.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Down in the Wadi: The locomotory activity rhythm of the Arabian spiny mouse, Acomys dimidiatus from the Arabian Peninsula

Alagaili

Mohammed

Bennett

et al. 2014

Journal of Arid Environments

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The African spiny mouse (henceforth spiny mouse) is a nocturnal rodent (Hoole et al 2012) occurring in the northeastern parts of southern Africa, as well as Malawi and Tanzania (Stuart and Stuart 2007). It has a unique fur, which is thick, coarse, and spine like, and is believed to provide some protection against predators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of food quantity on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values in southern African spiny mice (Acomys spinosissimus)

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stable isotope analysis is frequently applied as a tool to examine dietary patterns in animals. However, some of the underlying assumptions associated with using this approach are increasingly being questioned. We carried out a controlled diet experiment on the southern African spiny mouse (Acomys spinosissimus Peters, 1852) to test a number of aspects relating to these assumptions and also examine the hypothesis that stable isotopes, especially δ 15 N, can be used to provide evidence of nutritional stress. We compared the δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of livers and blood from animals that were fed ad libitum with animals undergoing a 10% reduction in food supply. Food-restricted animals showed no significant difference in δ 15 N; however, δ 13 C values of both liver and blood were depleted. Restricted animals also had a significantly lower C:N ratio. We examined the role of lipids and found following lipid extraction that both livers and lipids still showed the same separation in carbon values. Tissue-diet discrimination values were also calculated and found to be higher for both Δ 13 C and Δ 15 N compared with other mice species. Empirical values for discrimination rates were then compared with values calculated using an alternative method based on employing generic values and were found to be dissimilar, suggesting the use of generic values are not always appropriate. Our results highlight the need for greater understanding of the assumptions associated with using stable isotope analysis to examine diet and we suggest that studying a single species under captive conditions presents an ideal method to begin to test these hypotheses.

show abstract

“…Similar results were obtained in another murid rodent from the Soutpansberg region, the spiny mouse (Acomys spinosissimus), that was exposed to experimental conditions similar to that of present study. Activity resetting in spiny mice was also gradual (re-entrainment took approximately 9 days) and the proportion of light versus dark phase activity also did not differ much between the inverse light cycle and the preceding regular 12L: 12D light cycle (Hoole et al 2012). The rate of circadian re-entrainment is influenced by several factors such as the magnitude and the direction of the phase shift and interestingly, melatonin has been shown to affect the reentrainment process (Singaravel et al 1996;Ruby and Heller 1998;Cohen and KronfeldSchor 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Locomotor activity in the Namaqua rock mouse (Micaelamys namaquensis): entrainment by light manipulations

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The locomotor activity rhythms of wild-caught Namaqua rock mice (Micaelamys namaquensis Smith, 1834) were examined under four light cycle regimes in order to quantitatively describe the daily expression of locomotor activity and to study the innate relationship between activity and the light-dark cycle. Activity was always significantly higher at night than in the day: 1) The LD1 light cycle (12L: 12D) established a distinct light-entrained and strongly nocturnal activity rhythm (99.11% nocturnal activity). The activity onset was prompt (ZT 12.2 ± 0.04) and activity continued without any prominent peaks or extended times of rest until the offset of activity at ZT 23.73 ± 0.08. 2). Evidence for the internal maintenance of locomotor activity was obtained from the constant dark cycle (DD) in which locomotor activity free ran (mean τ = 23.89 h) and 77.58% of the activity was expressed during the subjective night. 3) During re-entrainment (LD2; 12L: 12D), a nocturnal activity rhythm was re-established (98.65% nocturnal activity) and, 4) the inversion of the light cycle (DL; 12D: 12L) evoked a shift in activity that again revealed dark-induced locomotor activity (95.69% nocturnal activity). Females were consistently more active than males in all of the light cycles, but only under the DD and LD2 cycles were females significantly more active than males. Although this species is considered nocturnal from field observations, information regarding its daily expression of activity and the role of light in its entrainment is lacking. To the best of our knowledge this study is the first to report quantitatively on the species' daily rhythm of activity and to investigate its relationship to the light-dark cycle.

show abstract

The locomotory activity rhythm of the spiny mouse,Acomys spinosissimusfrom southernAfrica: light entrainment and endogenous circadian rhythms

Cited by 8 publications

References 36 publications

Down in the Wadi: The locomotory activity rhythm of the Arabian spiny mouse, Acomys dimidiatus from the Arabian Peninsula

Down in the Wadi: The locomotory activity rhythm of the Arabian spiny mouse, Acomys dimidiatus from the Arabian Peninsula

The influence of food quantity on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values in southern African spiny mice (Acomys spinosissimus)

Locomotor activity in the Namaqua rock mouse (Micaelamys namaquensis): entrainment by light manipulations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About