The morphometry of the animals was done by obtaining the total length, body length, and crown-rump length, as well as the total length of the spinal cord and its segments. Ten animals were incised longitudinally in the dorsal median line, removing the skin, the musculature, and dorsal fascia of the vertebral column then, removed the vertebral arches and consequent exposure of the spinal cord and meninges. In this aspect, the objective was to describe the vertebromedullary topography of the agouti in order to identify and quantify it, with the intention of expanding the information regarding the clinical-surgical procedures in this system. In the clinical routine, clinical and surgical procedures are performed on the nervous system of these animals, such as epidural anesthesia and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collection however, data available are limited in literature on the main points of these procedures in this species. T the potential impacts that introduced dispersers may have on native plant communities and call for further study of disperser introductions worldwide.The agouti is a wild rodent located almost throughout the Brazilian territory, with great scientific importance and high reproductive potential when farmed. Seed removal was greater in areas with higher regional conspecific adult densities regardless of treatment, but agoutis had a greater impact relative to other seed removers on the seed removal of the study's rarest species. Species with smaller seeds were preferentially taken by seed removers other than agoutis, whereas agoutis were responsible for the majority of the removal of larger-seeded species. Within 13 days, 47 percent and 28 percent of seeds had been removed from control groups and agouti exclosure groups, respectively, leading to 19 percent of seed removal being attributed to agoutis. Seed groups were either accessible to the entire seed-remover community or placed within exclosures designed to exclude agoutis. We recorded removal rates in three regions of Dominica from 168 experimentally placed seed groups containing a total of 1356 seeds.
We investigated seed removal of seven rainforest species on the island of Dominica in the Lesser Antilles by the entire seed-remover community and specifically by the Red-rumped Agouti, Dasyprocta leporina, a scatter-hoarding rodent introduced to the island approximately 2500 years ago. Although effects of introduced seed predators have been documented, little is known about how introduced dispersers influence seed movement patterns. The introduction of non-native seed dispersers has the potential to significantly alter distributions and relative abundances of native plants. The results of this study highlight the potential impacts that introduced dispersers may have on native plant communities and call for further study of disperser introductions worldwide.
0 kommentar(er)
