Refuge sites, activity and torpor in wild common dunnarts (Sminthopsis murina) in a temperate heathland
David C. Paull
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
Zoology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia. Current address: Ecobiological, PO Box 585, Warners Bay, NSW 2288, Australia. Email: dunnarts64@yahoo.com
Australian Mammalogy 35(2) 153-159 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM12016
Submitted: 29 March 2012 Accepted: 13 November 2012 Published: 1 March 2013
Abstract
This telemetric study describes patterns of movement, activity, refuge-site use and torpor in free-living Sminthopsis murina over one autumn/winter period in a warm-temperate habitat. S. murina were found to rest during the day in burrows and hollow logs. Individuals maintained several daytime refuges and foraged over several hectares each night. They were found to prefer agamid burrows where a daily temperature of 10.3–15.8°C was maintained when ambient surface temperatures varied between 3.5 and 24.6°C. Torpor was employed in 12 of 13 complete resting periods recorded. Dunnarts were found to use both long (>6 h) and short (<4 h) torpor bouts with a minimum skin temperature of 17.2–26.7°C. Typically, torpor occurred in the morning, though bouts into the afternoon were also recorded. Arousal rates from torpor were variable and were achieved by endogenous and passive means. Normothermic rest bouts tended to be short (mostly <3 h) though longer periods were recorded, with a mean resting skin temperature of 32.3 ± 0.8°C. The variable physiological responses observed in S. murina seem to follow a facultative pattern, and, along with long activity periods and their use of refuge sites, may be linked to variable invertebrate activity during cooler months.
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