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dc.creatorMACNAB,BRIAN K.
dc.date2005-01-01
dc.date.accessioned2019-04-25T12:53:27Z
dc.date.available2019-04-25T12:53:27Z
dc.identifierhttps://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2005000200002
dc.identifier.urihttp://revistaschilenas.uchile.cl/handle/2250/62725
dc.descriptionMost of the variation (98.8 %) in basal rate of metabolism (BMR) in 70 species of marsupials is correlated with body mass, although lowland species have higher basal rates than highland species and burrowers have lower basal rates than non-burrowers. These factors collectively account for 99.2 % of the variation in marsupial BMR. Marsupials differ in BMR from eutherians by having no species with a high basal rate by general mammalian standards, even when consuming vertebrates or grass, food habits that are associated with very high basal rates in eutherians. The absence of high basal rates in marsupials reflects the absence of a correlation of rate of reproduction with basal rate, a correlation present in eutherians. These differences have two consequences: (1) marsupials are less tolerant of cold environments than eutherians, and (2) marsupials coexist with eutherians only when both have food habits associated with low basal rates and therefore when eutherians have reduced rates of reproduction. In Australia and South America marsupial carnivores diversified in the absence of eutherian equivalents. The importation to mainland Australia of dingos by humans appears to have been the immediate cause for the extinction of thylacines, Tasmanian devils, and eastern quolls. Carnivorous marsupials in South America were replaced by eutherians with the completion of the Panamanian land bridge. Macropods, which have lower basal rates than eutherian grazers, survive in central Australia probably because of their adjustment to xeric environments, whereas introduced domestic stock require the provision of water by humans
dc.formattext/html
dc.languageen
dc.publisherSociedad de Biología de Chile
dc.relation10.4067/S0716-078X2005000200002
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.sourceRevista chilena de historia natural v.78 n.2 2005
dc.subjectcoexistence
dc.subjectcompetitive exclusion
dc.subjecteutherians
dc.subjectmarsupials
dc.subjectreproduction
dc.titleUniformity in the basal metabolic rate of marsupials: its causes and consequences


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