| experimental evidence for pollination of banksia spp. by non-flying mammals. | the importance of non-flying mammals as pollinators of banksia integrifolia and b. spinulosa was analysed by examining the effect of pollinator exclusions on fruit-set. visitation by potential pollinators was also measured by observation and by indirect methods. nonflying mammals were frequent visitors to inflorescences of both banksia species. the aluminium sleeves used to exclude non-flying mammals from b. integrifolia trees were associated with a reduction in both the number of infructescence ... | 1991 | 28313356 |
| thermal relations of metabolic rate reduction in a hibernating marsupial. | we tested whether the reduction of metabolic rate (mr) in hibernating cercartetus nanus (marsupialia, 36 g) is better explained by the reduction of body temperature (tb), the differential (delta t) between tb and air temperature (ta), or thermal conductance (c). above the critical ta during torpor (ttc) of 4.8 +/- 0.7 degrees c where the tb was not regulated, the steady-state mr was an exponential function of tb (r2 = 0.92), and the overall q10 was 3.3. however, larger q10 values were observed a ... | 1997 | 9435666 |
| a comparison of the nitrogen requirements of the eastern pygmy possum, cercartetus nanus, on a pollen and on a mealworm diet. | the eastern pygmy possum, cercartetus nanus, is known to feed both on flower products and on invertebrates. this study compares its ability to meet its nitrogen requirements on pollen and on insect larvae. captive c. nanus were fed diets in which nitrogen was provided either by eucalyptus pollen or by the mealworm tenebrio molitor. the apparent digestibility of the nitrogen from both sources was high, with a mean value of 76% for the pollen and 73% for the mealworms. this was much higher than wo ... | 2013 | 10068615 |
| the effect of metabolic fuel availability on thermoregulation and torpor in a marsupial hibernator. | the physiological signal for torpor initiation appears to be related to fuel availability. studies on metabolic fuel inhibition in placental heterotherms show that glucose deprivation via the inhibitor 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2dg) initiates a torpor-like state, whereas fatty acid deprivation via mercaptoacetate (ma) does not. as previous studies using inhibitors were limited to quantifying body temperature in placentals, we investigated whether inhibition of glucose or fatty acids for cellular oxidat ... | 2004 | 14513266 |
| summer and winter torpor use by a free-ranging marsupial. | torpor is usually associated with low ambient temperatures (t(a)) in winter, but in some species it is also used in summer, often in response to limited food availability. since the seasonal expression of torpor of both placental and marsupial hibernators in the wild is poorly documented by quantitative data, we investigated torpor and activity patterns of the eastern pygmy-possum cercartetus nanus (17.4 g) over two seasons. we used radio telemetry to track animals during winter (n=4) and summer ... | 2012 | 22487484 |
| yearlong hibernation in a marsupial mammal. | many mammals hibernate each year for about 6 months in autumn and winter and reproduce during spring and summer when they are generally not in torpor. i tested the hypothesis that the marsupial pygmy-possum (cercartetus nanus), an opportunistic nonseasonal hibernator with a capacity for substantial fattening, would continue to hibernate well beyond winter. i also quantified how long they were able to hibernate without access to food before their body fat stores were depleted. pygmy-possums exhib ... | 2007 | 17607555 |
| isolation and partial characterization of tammar wallaby luteinizing hormone and development of a radioimmunoassay. | tammar wallaby (macropus eugenii) luteinizing hormone (lh) was purified from pituitaries collected from wild and captive populations by salt sequential precipitation, ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration. pituitary tissue (5 g) yielded 1.8 mg of purified wallaby luteinizing hormone (me-14b), as verified by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (sds-page). a heterologous radioimmunoassay has been developed for measurement of lh in plasma of marsupials using a monoclo ... | 1997 | 9402258 |
| can hibernators sense and evade fires? olfactory acuity and locomotor performance during deep torpor. | increased habitat fragmentation, global warming and other human activities have caused a rise in the frequency of wildfires worldwide. to reduce the risks of uncontrollable fires, prescribed burns are generally conducted during the colder months of the year, a time when in many mammals torpor is expressed regularly. torpor is crucial for energy conservation, but the low body temperatures (t b) are associated with a decreased responsiveness and torpid animals might therefore face an increased mor ... | 2016 | 27550313 |
| heart rate dynamics in a marsupial hibernator. | the eastern pygmy possum (cercartetus nanus) is a small marsupial that can express spontaneous short bouts of torpor, as well as multi-day bouts of deep hibernation. to examine heart rate (fh) control at various stages of torpor in a marsupial hibernator, and to see whetherfhvariability differs from that of deep placental hibernators, we used radiotelemetry to measure ecg and body temperature (tb) while measuring the rate of o2consumption and ventilation.fhand o2consumption rate during euthermia ... | 2017 | 28576823 |