| can the nematode capillaria hepatica regulate abundance in wild house mice? results of enclosure experiments in southeastern australia. | the hypothesis that a liver-inhabiting nematode, capillaria hepatica, can regulate abundance of the house mouse (mus domesticus) was tested in enclosures, in southeastern australia. changes in mouse abundance, and the relationship between mortality and host abundance were compared in three treatment and three control populations. any effect of c. hepatica on mouse abundance was masked by an unknown regulating factor(s). this factor(s) caused density-dependent mortality in the control and treatme ... | 1991 | 1780181 |
| a manipulative field experiment to examine the effect of capillaria hepatica (nematoda) on wild mouse populations in southern australia. | a 12-month manipulative field study of the effect of a liver parasite, capillaria hepatica, on mouse populations (mus domesticus) was conducted in the mallee wheatlands of northwestern victoria. there were 2 untreated and 4 treated sites each consisting of a 16 km2 sampling zone. the parasite was released in september (spring) 1993 into an increasing mouse population which had a medium density (100-250 mice per ha). a third untreated site was monitored from january 1994. a simple but effective b ... | 1996 | 8773526 |
| the genetic structure of escherichia coli populations in feral house mice. | escherichia coli was isolated from feral house mice (mus domesticus) during the course of a mouse plague in the state of victoria, australia. two farms were sampled over a period of 7 months and a total of 447 isolates were collected. the isolates were characterized using the techniques of randomly amplified polymorphic dna and multi-locus enzyme electrophoresis. the mean genetic diversity of this e. coli population (h = 0.24) was found to be substantially lower than the diversity of an e. col p ... | 1997 | 9202479 |
| temporal changes in the frequency of colicinogeny in escherichia coli from house mice. | escherichia coli was isolated from feral house mice (mus domesticus) during the course of a mouse plague in the state of victoria, australia. the isolates were characterized for the production of colicins and their resistance to the co-occurring colicins. of the 447 isolates examined, 59% were found to be colicinogenic. phenotypic and pcr-based genotypic methods were used to determine the types of colicins being produced. colicin e2 was the most common, representing 27% of the colicin-producing ... | 1998 | 9720045 |
| kin interactions and changing social structure during a population outbreak of feral house mice. | populations of feral house mice (mus domesticus l.) in australia undergo multiannual fluctuations in density, and these outbreaks may be partly driven by some change in behavioural self-regulation. in other vertebrate populations with multiannual fluctuations, changes in kin structure have been proposed as a causal mechanism for changes in spacing behaviour, which consequently result in density fluctuations. we tested the predictions of two alternative conceptual models based on kin selection in ... | 2005 | 16029479 |
| transmission of two australian strains of murine cytomegalovirus (mcmv) in enclosure populations of house mice (mus domesticus). | to control plagues of free-living mice (mus domesticus) in australia, a recombinant murine cytomegalovirus (mcmv) expressing fertility proteins is being developed as an immunocontraceptive agent. real-time quantitative pcr was used to monitor the transmission of two genetically variable field strains of mcmv through mouse populations after 25% of founding mice were infected with the n1 strain, followed by the g4 strain 6 weeks later. pathogen-free wild-derived mice were released into outdoor enc ... | 2005 | 16050517 |
| prevalence of mouse mammary tumor virus (mmtv) in wild house mice (mus musculis) in southeastern australia. | we determined the prevalence of mouse mammary tumor virus (mmtv) in introduced, free-roaming, wild house mice (mus musculus domesticus) [corrected] and compared envelope (env) and long terminal repeat (ltr) nucleotide sequences of viruses from wild mice and other sources. mice were trapped on two occasions, in october (spring) and the following may (autumn) of 2003-2004 in the mallee region of northwestern victoria, australia. animals were assigned to three cohorts (subadult, young, and old adul ... | 2007 | 17984262 |
| house mouse abundance and ross river virus notifications in victoria, australia. | the number of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases is increasing. as such, understanding the fundamental ecology of infectious disease is critical. short-lived highly fecund amplification hosts are implicated to influence disease prevalence, but few empirical examples exist. we examined the relationship between mouse (mus musculus) abundance and ross river virus (rrv) incidence in northwest victoria, australia. | 2008 | 18468469 |
| receiving behaviour is sensitive to risks from eavesdropping predators. | conspicuous signals may attract both intended receivers as well as unintended receivers such as predators. however, signalling individuals are not the only ones at risk when communicating, as the intended receiver may encounter eavesdropping predators that are attracted to the same signals. here, we show that the house mouse (mus domesticus) behaviourally responds to social signals (scents) as though receiving carries a risk of predation. we presented mice with their own scents (low social benef ... | 2009 | 19363623 |
| negotiating a noisy, information-rich environment in search of cryptic prey: olfactory predators need patchiness in prey cues. | 1. olfactory predator search processes differ fundamentally to those based on vision, particularly when odour cues are deposited rather than airborne or emanating from a point source. when searching for visually cryptic prey that may have moved some distance from a deposited odour cue, cue context and spatial variability are the most likely sources of information about prey location available to an olfactory predator. 2. we tested whether the house mouse (mus domesticus), a model olfactory preda ... | 2011 | 21401592 |
| interspecific and geographic variation in the diets of sympatric carnivores: dingoes/wild dogs and red foxes in south-eastern australia. | dingoes/wild dogs (canis dingo/familiaris) and red foxes (vulpes vulpes) are widespread carnivores in southern australia and are controlled to reduce predation on domestic livestock and native fauna. we used the occurrence of food items in 5875 dingo/wild dog scats and 11,569 fox scats to evaluate interspecific and geographic differences in the diets of these species within nine regions of victoria, south-eastern australia. the nine regions encompass a wide variety of ecosystems. diet overlap be ... | 2015 | 25790230 |