Two Parapatric Species of Pocket Gophers

Vaughan, Terry A.

doi:10.2307/2406748

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Other factors such as reproductive condition or age may affect aggression patterns. In late July to early August 1972, when this study was done, some T. bottae were still in breeding condition, but most T. talpoides had probably finished breeding, because of this species' shorter breeding season (Hansen 1960, Vaughan 1967. Thus, in the present study T. bottae may have been less aggressive because some were in breeding condition; territoriality appears to decrease during the breeding season as observed by increased frequency of multiple occupancy of burrows (Hansen andMiller 1959, Vaughan 1967).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Interspecific Aggressive Behavior of Pocket Gophers Thomomys Bottae and T. Talpoides (Geomyidae: Rodentia)

Baker¹

1974

Ecology

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The distributions of pocket gopher species in Colorado are contiguously allopatric. The pattern has been attributed to competitive exclusion, perhaps due to aggression toward the broad—niche species by more narrow—niche species. This study tested for differences in aggressiveness between the narrow—niche Thomomys bottae and the broader niched T. talpoides. Twenty—seven individuals of T. bottae were paired with 27 T. talpoides. Each animal was used once. Contrary to expectations the broader niched species, T. talpoides, is more aggressive than T. bottae.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Other factors, such as soil moisture tolerances and differing reproductive and dispersal capacities, have also been suggested to explain the patterns of pocket gopher distributions (Vaughan 1963, 1967, Vaughan and Hansen 1964, Thaeler 1968, Reichman and Baker 1972.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interspecific Aggressive Behavior of Pocket Gophers Thomomys Bottae and T. Talpoides (Geomyidae: Rodentia)

Baker¹

1974

Ecology

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“…However, territoriality is a common social behavior that can have large impacts on the distribution of herbivores and their prey by creating refuges along the peripheries of adjacent territories (Mech 1977, Robertson 1989). In addition, by creating a zone of repulsion around each animal, territorial behavior lowers the maximum density of animals that can coexist (Vaughan 1967, Nevo 1979, Seabloom and Reichman 2001, and hence the maximum disturbance rate. Furthermore, the presence of buffer zones between territories can create a complex disturbance regime, where disturbances aggregate at spatial scales less than individual territories but have an even distribution at scales larger than individual territories (Klaas et al 2000, Seabloom and Reichman 2001, Reichman and Seabloom 2002.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple Stable Equilibria in Grasslands Mediated by Herbivore Population Dynamics and Foraging Behavior

Seabloom

Richards

2003

Ecology

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Plant community structure is often the result of interactions between succession, disturbance, and dispersal. While some disturbances may be highly stochastic (e.g., flooding or landslides), other types of disturbance are closely linked to the current successional state of the community (e.g., fire or herbivory). For example, when herbivores preferentially feed on early successional species they may generate conditions favorable for these species and thus create a positive feedback. Positive feedbacks may create multiple stable equilibria within plant communities. We demonstrate the presence of these positive feedbacks using experiments conducted in a restored California grassland. We found that pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) preferentially forage in areas dominated by annual species, and gopher foraging activity increases the abundance of annual plants. We use a Markov chain model to identify how the foraging behavior, dispersal behavior, and population dynamics of territorial herbivores can structure a plant community across multiple spatial scales. The model is loosely based on the biology of pocket gophers, though it is general enough to be applicable to other territorial herbivores with foraging preferences. We find that a foraging preference for early successional species can generate multiple plant communities that persist within a herbivore's territory. If juveniles are selective when searching for territories during their dispersal phase, then herbivores can also generate persistent and distinct plant communities over larger spatial scales. In this case, fixed regions of the landscape may become occupied by herbivores for long periods (many herbivore generations) and be composed of a range of successional plant species, whereas the remaining landscape is abandoned by herbivores and becomes dominated by late successional species. This structuring of the landscape occurs even though we assume that the entire landscape is intrinsically identical.

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“…If, indeed, the phena represent distinct species, speciation classically would be interpreted as having resulted from geographic isolation of the phena during or before the Kansas glaciation, with the resultant taxa having maintained a parapatric distribution (in the sense used for mammals by Vaughan, 1967, although possibly without ecological divergence) at least since Illinoian times. Accordingly, the two species might have displaced one another north and south (and probably also east and west) across the plains in response to fluctuations in environmental factors during the Pleistocene, with one species competitively excluding the other depending on the direction of the climatic shift.…”

Section: Systematic Zoologymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multivariate Analysis of Systematic Relationships among Populations of the Short-Tailed Shrew (Genus Blarina) in Nebraska

Genoways

Choate

1972

Systematic Biology

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Two Parapatric Species of Pocket Gophers

Cited by 15 publications

References 13 publications

Interspecific Aggressive Behavior of Pocket Gophers Thomomys Bottae and T. Talpoides (Geomyidae: Rodentia)

Interspecific Aggressive Behavior of Pocket Gophers Thomomys Bottae and T. Talpoides (Geomyidae: Rodentia)

Multiple Stable Equilibria in Grasslands Mediated by Herbivore Population Dynamics and Foraging Behavior

A Multivariate Analysis of Systematic Relationships among Populations of the Short-Tailed Shrew (Genus Blarina) in Nebraska

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