Letteratura scientifica selezionata sul tema "Marsupials Nutrition"

Predators with Pouches provides a unique synthesis of current knowledge of the world’s carnivorous marsupials—from Patagonia to New Guinea and North America to Tasmania. Written by 63 experts in each field, the book covers a comprehensive range of disciplines including evolution and systematics, reproductive biology, physiology, ecology, behaviour and conservation.
 Predators with Pouches reveals the relationships between the American didelphids and the Australian dasyurids, and explores the role of the marsupial fauna in the mammal community. It introduces the geologically oldest marsupi

Detailed research into marsupial behavioural ecology and modelling of past Aboriginal exploitation of terrestrial fauna has been scarce. Poor bone preservation is one limiting factor in Australian archaeological sites, but so has been the lack of research concerning the ecology and physiology of Australia’s endemic fauna. Much research has focused on marine and fresh-water shell-fish found in coastal and inland midden sites. Detailed studies into areas such as seasonality of past human occupation and nutritional returns from terrestrial prey species have not had the same attention. This chapte

In Medicine of Australian Mammals, more than 30 experts present the most current information available on the medical management of all taxa of Australian native mammals.
 
 This comprehensive text is divided into two parts. The first includes chapters on general topics relevant to the medical management of captive and free-ranging Australian native mammals such as: veterinary considerations for the rescue, treatment, rehabilitation and release of wildlife; veterinary aspects of hand-rearing orphaned marsupials; marine mammal strandings and the role of the veterinarian; and wildlife

Compared to a predator’s diet, plant food has two great advantages: it is abundant and it does not run away. ‘Herbivorous mammals’ explains how these advantages are matched by difficulties: plants are generally of low nutritional value and must be eaten in large amounts; leaves with protective abrasive particles can quickly wear down herbivores’ chewing teeth; and mammals cannot make their own cellulase enzymes for breaking down cellulose to sugars. The eating habits and the challenges of small herbivores (e.g. rodents, rabbits, and hyraxes) are considered, as well as those of large ungulates and elephants; marsupial herbivores (e.g. kangaroos, wombats, and koalas); and specialist herbivores (pandas, dugongs, and manatees).

This chapter discusses general patterns of brooding in decapod crustaceans from aquatic to terrestrial environments, addressing behavioral adaptations as well as costs and benefits. Brooding embryos is a common feature among decapods. However, brooding exhibits a wide range of modes that are highly dependent on the environment. Brooding is less common in marine systems, whereas there is a general pattern of extended brooding with terrestrialization. Exceptions are crabs that have invaded land directly via the seashore, i.e. land crabs that have indirect development like their marine ancestors. During terrestrialization, adaption to environmental stressors like desiccation, UV radiation, temperature variability, mechanical support, and osmolality seemed to generally favor decreasing larval development and increasing duration of brood care. Thus, crustaceans developed more complex brooding mechanisms as adaptive responses to the colonization of land (e.g., osmoregulation of the maternal fluids, marsupial fluid, sealed and specialized marsupium, provision of nutritious material, grooming and cleaning, ventilation of the embryo masses). However, clear brooding behaviors are also observed among several marine species (e.g. grooming and cleaning, oxygen provision). The major efforts to characterize general brooding patterns among decapod crustaceans and describe brooding behaviors were not accompanied by comprehensive studies to understand the costs and the benefits of brooding. Several studies have addressed the positive influence of the mother on embryo development, but the efforts to quantify the impact on embryo survival are still limited. This chapter identifies problems that need further consideration to reach a deeper understanding of the evolution of brooding in decapod crustaceans.