Diet of two invasive rodent species in two Mayan communities in Mexico
-
Jesús Alonso Panti-May
, Yessica Margely Gurubel-González
, Cesar Tzuc-Dzul , Eduardo Emir Palomo-Arjona , Carmen Salazar , Carlos Baak-Baak , Julian E. García-Rejón , Carlos Machain-Williams and Silvia F. Hernández-Betancourt
Abstract
The gastrointestinal content analysis of 344 invasive rodents (120 black rats and 224 house mice) in two Mayan communities revealed that rats consumed a high percentage of plants (93.3%) and arthropods (95.5%). In contrast, arthropods were less frequent (55.8%) than plants (94.6%) in mouse’s diet. In both rodent species, fragments of Sapotaceae and Hymenoptera were common plant and arthropod foods, respectively. Our results suggest that the food availability present in the Mayan communities is similar to the one described in natural habitats.
Funding source: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT – México)
Award Identifier / Grant number: 2014-247005
Funding statement: We thank the families from Xkalakdzonot and Paraíso for their participation and cooperation; Dr. Salvador Flores for the identification of some seeds; Irene Castillo for her valuable comments and the revision of the English version; and Belén Herrera for Figure 1. This work was funded by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT – México) (Funder id: 10.13039/501100003141, no. 2014-247005). J.A. Panti-May was supported by the CONACYT – Doctoral fellowship (no. 259164).
References
Aguilar-Rodríguez, P.A., M.C.G. MacSwiney, T. Krömer and J.G. García-Franco. 2014. Pollen consumption by free-living mice. Acta Theriol. 59: 361–365.10.1007/s13364-013-0164-7Search in Google Scholar
Badan, D. 1986. Diet of the house mouse (Mus musculus L.) in two pine and a kauri forest. N. Z. J. Ecol. 9: 137–141.Search in Google Scholar
Battersby, S., R.B. Hirschhorn and B.R. Amman. 2008. Commensal rodents. In: (X. Bonnefoy, H. Kampen and K. Sweeney, eds.) Public health significance of urban pests. World Health Organization, Copenhagen. pp. 387–419.Search in Google Scholar
Bergallo, H.G. and W.E. Magnusson. 1999. Effects of climate and food availability on four rodent species in southeastern Brazil. J. Mammal. 80: 472–486.10.2307/1383294Search in Google Scholar
Carpenter, S. and W.J. LaCasse. 1955. Mosquitoes of North America (North of Mexico). University of California, Berkeley. p. 495.10.1525/9780520325098Search in Google Scholar
Ceia, R.S., S. Sanches and J.A. Ramos. 2017. Foraging ecology of introduced rodents in the threatened Macaronesian laurel forest of São Miguel island (Azores) and contiguous exotic forests. Mammal Study 42: 141–151.10.3106/041.042.0304Search in Google Scholar
Clark, D.A. 1981. Foraging patterns of black rats across a desert-montane forest gradient in the Galapagos Islands. Biotropica 13: 182–194.10.2307/2388123Search in Google Scholar
Clark, D.A. 1982. Foraging behavior of a vertebrate omnivore (Rattus rattus): meal structure, sampling, and diet breadth. Ecology 63: 763–772.10.2307/1936797Search in Google Scholar
Cole, F.R., L.L. Loope, A.C. Medeiros, C.E. Howe and L.J. Anderson. 2000. Food habits of introduced rodents in high-elevation shrubland of Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawai’i. Pacific Sci. 54: 313–329.Search in Google Scholar
Daniel, M.J. 1973. Seasonal diet of the ship rat (Rattus rattus) in lowland forest in New Zealand. Proc. New Zeal. Ecol. Soc. 20: 21–30.Search in Google Scholar
Davis, D.E. and O. Hall. 1948. The seasonal reproductive condition of male brown rats in Baltimore, Maryland. Physiol. Zool. 21: 272–282.10.1086/physzool.21.3.30152004Search in Google Scholar PubMed
Flores, J.S., J. Tun Garrido, J.J. Ortiz Díaz and J.M. Kantún Balam. 2013. Familias y géneros de plantas comunes en huertos familiares de la Península de Yucatán. Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida. p. 54.Search in Google Scholar
González-Embarcadero, A., E. Cedillo-Portugal and L. Díaz-Garduño. 2011. Morfología y anatomía de las plantas con flores. Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Chapingo. p. 276.Search in Google Scholar
Harper, G.A. and N. Bunbury. 2015. Invasive rats on tropical islands: their population biology and impacts on native species. Glob. Ecol. Conserv. 3: 607–627.10.1016/j.gecco.2015.02.010Search in Google Scholar
Harper, G.A. and L.F. Cabrera. 2010. Response of mice (Mus musculus) to the removal of black rats (Rattus rattus) in arid forest on Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos. Biol. Invasions 12: 1449–1452.10.1007/s10530-009-9560-ySearch in Google Scholar
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. 2012. Inventario nacional de viviendas. Available at: http://www3.inegi.org.mx/sistemas/mapa/inv/Default.aspx?bi=1. Accessed 25 May 2013.Search in Google Scholar
Le Roux, V., J.L. Chapuis, Y. Frenot and P. Vernon. 2002. Diet of the house mouse (Mus musculus) on Guillou Island, Kerguelen archipelago, Subantarctic. Polar Biol. 25: 49–57.10.1007/s003000100310Search in Google Scholar
Leary, S., W. Underwood, R. Anthony, S. Cartner, D. Corey, T. Grandin, C. Greenacre, S. Gwaltney-Brant, M.A. McCrackin, R. Meyer, D. Miller, J. Shearer, R. Yanong, G.C. Golab and E. Patterson-Kane. 2013. AVMA guidelines for the euthanasia of animals: 2013 Edition. American Veterinary Medical Association, Schaumburg.Search in Google Scholar
Masi, E., F.A. Pino, M.G.S. Santos, L. Genehr, J.O.M. Albuquerque, A.M. Bancher and J.C.M. Alves. 2010. Socioeconomic and environmental risk factors for urban rodent infestation in Sao Paulo, Brazil. J. Pest Sci. 83: 231–241.10.1007/s10340-010-0290-9Search in Google Scholar
McDonald, J.H. 2014. Handbook of biological statistics. Sparky House Publishing, Baltimore, Maryland. p. 299.Search in Google Scholar
Meerburg, B.G., G.R. Singleton and A. Kijlstra. 2009. Rodent-borne diseases and their risks for public health. Crit. Rev. Microbiol. 35: 221–270.10.1080/10408410902989837Search in Google Scholar PubMed
Moraes, S.J., E.P. Britto, J.L. Mineiro and B. Halliday. 2016. Catalogue of the mite families Ascidae Voigts & Oudemans, Blattisociidae Garman and Melicharidae Hirschmann (Acari: Mesostigmata). Zootax 4112: 1–299.10.11646/zootaxa.4112.1.1Search in Google Scholar PubMed
Moreno, L.L., J. Tuxill, E.Y. Moo, L.A. Reyes, J.C. Alejo and D.I. Jarvis. 2006. Traditional maize storage methods of Mayan farmers in Yucatan, Mexico: implications for seed selection and crop diversity. Biodivers. Conserv. 15: 1771–1795.10.1007/s10531-004-6679-0Search in Google Scholar
Naqvi, S.R., M. Mushtaq, M.A. Beg, M.S. Nadeeem and A.R. Kayani. 2013. Dietary habits of the house rat (Rattus rattus) in urban Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Pak. J. Zool. 45: 531–536.Search in Google Scholar
Nelson, L. and F.W. Clark. 1973. Correction for sprung traps in catch/effort calculations of trappring results. J. Mammal. 54: 295–298.10.2307/1378903Search in Google Scholar
Oldham, J.N. 1931. On the arthropod intermediate hosts of Hymenolepis diminuta (Rudolphi 1819). J. Helminthol. 9: 21–28.10.1017/S0022149X00030212Search in Google Scholar
Padgett, K.A. and W.M. Boyce. 2005. Ants as first intermediate hosts of Mesocestoides on San Miguel Island, USA. J. Helminthol. 79: 67–73.10.1079/JOH2005275Search in Google Scholar
Panti-May, J.A., S. Hernández-Betancourt, H. Ruíz-Piña and S. Medina-Peralta. 2012. Abundance and population parameters of commensal rodents present in rural households in Yucatan, Mexico. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegrad. 66: 77–81.10.1016/j.ibiod.2011.10.006Search in Google Scholar
Panti-May, J.A., R.R.C. Andrade, Y. Gurubel-González, E. Palomo-Arjona, L. Sodá-Tamayo, J. Meza-Sulú, M. Ramírez-Sierra, E. Dumonteil, V.M. Vidal-Martínez, C. Machain-Williams, D. Oliveira, M.G. Reis, M.A. Torres-Castro, M.R. Robles, S.F. Hernández-Betancourt and F. Costa. 2017a. A survey of zoonotic pathogens carried by house mouse and black rat populations in Yucatan, Mexico. Epidemiol. Infect. 145: 2287–2295.10.1017/S0950268817001352Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
Panti-May, J.A., L. Sodá-Tamayo, N. Gamboa-Tec, R. Cetina-Franco, N. Cigarroa-Toledo, C. Machaín-Williams, M.R. Robles and S.F. Hernández-Betancourt. 2017b. Perceptions of rodent-associated problems: an experience in urban and rural areas of Yucatan, Mexico. Urban Ecosyst. 20: 983–988.10.1007/s11252-017-0651-8Search in Google Scholar
Pimentel, D., R. Zuniga and D. Morrison. 2005. Update on the environmental and economic costs associated with alien-invasive species in the United States. Ecol. Econ. 52: 273–288.10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.10.002Search in Google Scholar
Riofrío-Lazo, M. and D. Páez-Rosas. 2015. Feeding habits of introduced black rats, Rattus rattus, in nesting colonies of Galapagos petrel on San Cristóbal Island, Galapagos. PLoS One 10: e0127901.10.1371/journal.pone.0127901Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
Roberts, P. and W.A. Seabrook. 1989. A relationship between black rats (Rattus rattus), Seychelles fruit bats (Pteropus seychellensis aldabrensis) and the coccoid (Icerya seychellarum) (Insecta, Homoptera) on Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles. J. Zool. 218: 332–334.10.1111/j.1469-7998.1989.tb02543.xSearch in Google Scholar
Shiels, A.B., C.A. Flores, A. Khamsing, P.D. Krushelnycky, S.M. Mosher and D.R. Drake. 2013. Dietary niche differentiation among three species of invasive rodents (Rattus rattus, R. exulans, Mus musculus). Biol. Invasions 15: 1037–1048.10.1007/s10530-012-0348-0Search in Google Scholar
Sidorov, G.N. and A.V. Putin. 2010. The house mouse (Mus musculus L.) in Omsk educational institutions: seasonal migration, abundance, reproduction, distribution, foraging, and associated damage. Contemp. Probl. Ecol. 3: 601–605.10.1134/S1995425510050164Search in Google Scholar
Szadziewski, R., M. Gwizdalska-Kentzer and W. Giłka. 2011. Order Diptera, family Ceratopogonidae. Arthropod Fauna UAE 4: 636–653.Search in Google Scholar
Tripplehorn, C. and N. Johnson. 2005. Borror and DeLong’s introduction to the study of insects. Thomson Brooks/Cole, Belmont. p. 888.Search in Google Scholar
Whitaker, J. 1966. Food of Mus musculus, Peromyscus maniculatus bairdi and Peromyscus leucopus in Vigo County, Indiana. J. Mammal. 47: 473–486.10.2307/1377688Search in Google Scholar
Worth, C.B. 1950. Field and laboratory observations on roof rats, Rattus rattus (Linnaeus), in Florida. J. Mammal. 31: 293–304.10.2307/1375298Search in Google Scholar
Yabe, T. 1979. The relation of food habits to the ecological distribution of the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) and the roof rat (R. rattus). Japanese J. Ecol. 29: 235–244.Search in Google Scholar
©2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Ethology
- The influence of logging upon the foraging behaviour and diet of the endangered Bornean banteng
- Conservation
- Wolf diet and livestock selection in central Greece
- Origin, ecology and human conflict of gray wolf (Canis lupus) in Suleman Range, South Waziristan, Pakistan
- Ecology
- Resource limitations and competitive interactions affect carnivore community composition at different ecological scales in a temperate island system
- Mandibular osteomyelitis in the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821) (Odontoceti: Cetacea): first case in the Mexican Caribbean
- Diet of two invasive rodent species in two Mayan communities in Mexico
- Small non-volant mammals of the Reserva Geobotánica Pululahua, Ecuador
- Snake predation on bats in Europe: new cases and a regional assessment
- Molecular versus morphological approaches to diet analysis of the caracal (Caracal caracal)
- Physiology
- Reproductive senescence in free-ranging North American elk Cervus elaphus Cervidae
- Taxonomy/phylogeny
- Morphological reassessment and new locality records for Galea comes Thomas, 1919 (Rodentia, Caviidae)
- Phylogeography of Miniopterus fuliginosus (Chiroptera) with special reference to Jeju Island, South Korea
- Annual reviewer acknowledgement
- Reviewer acknowledgement Mammalia volume 83 (2019)
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Ethology
- The influence of logging upon the foraging behaviour and diet of the endangered Bornean banteng
- Conservation
- Wolf diet and livestock selection in central Greece
- Origin, ecology and human conflict of gray wolf (Canis lupus) in Suleman Range, South Waziristan, Pakistan
- Ecology
- Resource limitations and competitive interactions affect carnivore community composition at different ecological scales in a temperate island system
- Mandibular osteomyelitis in the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821) (Odontoceti: Cetacea): first case in the Mexican Caribbean
- Diet of two invasive rodent species in two Mayan communities in Mexico
- Small non-volant mammals of the Reserva Geobotánica Pululahua, Ecuador
- Snake predation on bats in Europe: new cases and a regional assessment
- Molecular versus morphological approaches to diet analysis of the caracal (Caracal caracal)
- Physiology
- Reproductive senescence in free-ranging North American elk Cervus elaphus Cervidae
- Taxonomy/phylogeny
- Morphological reassessment and new locality records for Galea comes Thomas, 1919 (Rodentia, Caviidae)
- Phylogeography of Miniopterus fuliginosus (Chiroptera) with special reference to Jeju Island, South Korea
- Annual reviewer acknowledgement
- Reviewer acknowledgement Mammalia volume 83 (2019)