Differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the Brazilian Cerrado

BACKGROUND: Signs left by some mammals such as tracks, trails, burrows, scratches, feces, hair, and others can be an important tool for species identification. This study was conducted in the Itirapina Ecological Station, in the southern Brazilian Cerrado, whose main objectives were to (1) compare t...

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Autor principal:	Guilherme Trovati,Roberto
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Sociedad de Biología de Chile 2015
Materias:	Burrows Cabassous unicinctus Cingulata Dasypodidae Euphractus sexcinctus Xenarthra
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2015000100019
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spelling	oai:scielo:S0716-078X20150001000192015-12-21Differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the Brazilian CerradoGuilherme Trovati,Roberto Burrows Cabassous unicinctus Cingulata Dasypodidae Euphractus sexcinctus Xenarthra BACKGROUND: Signs left by some mammals such as tracks, trails, burrows, scratches, feces, hair, and others can be an important tool for species identification. This study was conducted in the Itirapina Ecological Station, in the southern Brazilian Cerrado, whose main objectives were to (1) compare the burrow morphometric variables of Cabassous unicinctus and Euphractus sexcinctus and (2) check for differences in the occurrence of foraging burrows in two different environments: areas with vegetation (shrubby grassland) and areas without vegetation (roads). The collected measures of armadillo's burrows have been width, height, depth, and angle relative to the soil. To record foraging burrows (<70 cm), the linear transect methodology was used simultaneously in roads and shrubby grassland environments RESULTS: In a shrubby grassland environment of the Itirapina Ecological Station, a density of 121 burrows/ha pertaining to C. unicinctus and of 277 to E. sexcinctus was observed. Although there is overlap between them, morphometric variables were used to measure the burrows; significant differences were observed in all: depth, p < 0.001; ratio, p < 0.001; perimeter of the ellipse (perimeter), p < 0.001; and angle of excavation relative to the soil, p < 0.001. There was an observed interaction between the variables p < 0.001 for Wilk test. The PCA analysis evidenced two highly distinct groups of burrows, which corresponded to the initial visual classification. The variance explained by axes 1 and 2 was 83.18 %. The variable that most influenced the distinction of the burrows of the species was the perimeter. There was a density of 114 foraging burrows/ha across the roads and 42 in shrubby grassland. The results of the ANOVA, p < 0.05, and Tukey test, p < 0.05, demonstrate significant difference between the mean densities of foraging burrows in the said environments. This indicates that armadillos use the area devoid of vegetation to feed CONCLUSIONS: Thus, this study provides information that can assist in the surveys of these species as well as to clarify aspects of its ecology in the Cerradoinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSociedad de Biología de ChileRevista chilena de historia natural v.88 20152015-01-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2015000100019en10.1186/S40693-015-0049-Z
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	Burrows Cabassous unicinctus Cingulata Dasypodidae Euphractus sexcinctus Xenarthra
spellingShingle	Burrows Cabassous unicinctus Cingulata Dasypodidae Euphractus sexcinctus Xenarthra Guilherme Trovati,Roberto Differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the Brazilian Cerrado
description	BACKGROUND: Signs left by some mammals such as tracks, trails, burrows, scratches, feces, hair, and others can be an important tool for species identification. This study was conducted in the Itirapina Ecological Station, in the southern Brazilian Cerrado, whose main objectives were to (1) compare the burrow morphometric variables of Cabassous unicinctus and Euphractus sexcinctus and (2) check for differences in the occurrence of foraging burrows in two different environments: areas with vegetation (shrubby grassland) and areas without vegetation (roads). The collected measures of armadillo's burrows have been width, height, depth, and angle relative to the soil. To record foraging burrows (<70 cm), the linear transect methodology was used simultaneously in roads and shrubby grassland environments RESULTS: In a shrubby grassland environment of the Itirapina Ecological Station, a density of 121 burrows/ha pertaining to C. unicinctus and of 277 to E. sexcinctus was observed. Although there is overlap between them, morphometric variables were used to measure the burrows; significant differences were observed in all: depth, p < 0.001; ratio, p < 0.001; perimeter of the ellipse (perimeter), p < 0.001; and angle of excavation relative to the soil, p < 0.001. There was an observed interaction between the variables p < 0.001 for Wilk test. The PCA analysis evidenced two highly distinct groups of burrows, which corresponded to the initial visual classification. The variance explained by axes 1 and 2 was 83.18 %. The variable that most influenced the distinction of the burrows of the species was the perimeter. There was a density of 114 foraging burrows/ha across the roads and 42 in shrubby grassland. The results of the ANOVA, p < 0.05, and Tukey test, p < 0.05, demonstrate significant difference between the mean densities of foraging burrows in the said environments. This indicates that armadillos use the area devoid of vegetation to feed CONCLUSIONS: Thus, this study provides information that can assist in the surveys of these species as well as to clarify aspects of its ecology in the Cerrado
author	Guilherme Trovati,Roberto
author_facet	Guilherme Trovati,Roberto
author_sort	Guilherme Trovati,Roberto
title	Differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the Brazilian Cerrado
title_short	Differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the Brazilian Cerrado
title_full	Differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the Brazilian Cerrado
title_fullStr	Differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the Brazilian Cerrado
title_full_unstemmed	Differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the Brazilian Cerrado
title_sort	differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the brazilian cerrado
publisher	Sociedad de Biología de Chile
publishDate	2015
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2015000100019
work_keys_str_mv	AT guilhermetrovatiroberto differentiationandcharacterizationofburrowsoftwospeciesofarmadillosinthebraziliancerrado
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Differentiation and characterization of burrows of two species of armadillos in the Brazilian Cerrado

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