Home-range and space use by Didelphis albiventris (Lund 1840) (Marsupialia, Didelphidae) in Mutum Island, Paraná river, Brazil

• Published in: Biota neotropica 2012-12, Vol.12 (4), p.50-55
• Main Authors: Sanches, Vítor Quadros Altomare, Gomes, Mariuciy Menezes de Arruda, Passos, Fernando de Camargo, Graciolli, Gustavo, Ribas, Augusto Cesar de Aquino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
• ISSN: 1676-0611; 1676-0611
• DOI: 10.1590/S1676-06032012000400004

Home-range is the area used by an animal in its daily activities. Home-range studies provide data on species mating systems and territorial behavior. Our main goal was to estimate the Didelphis albiventris (Lund 1840) home-range in Mutum Island, Paraná River, Brazil. The study was carried out in 2008 from March to October on a 19.20 ha grid. The island is part of the Parana River Islands and Floodlands Federal Environmental Protection Area, with vegetation composed by Alluvial Semideciduous Seasonal Forest in a region of Subtropical Wet climate. The sampling effort was 3,360 traps-night resulting in 152 Didelphis albiventris (Lund 1840) captures. Forty-one Didelphis albiventris (Lund 1840) individuals were captured in 42 capture stations, composed by a trap placed on the floor and another in understory (2 m high). The animals were mostly terrestrial, independently of age or sex. Four females and five males, which were recaptured at least five times, were used to calculate home-range using the minimum convex polygon method. The mean home-range estimate was 2.33 ± 2.32 ha, similar to previous estimates provided by other methods, suggesting that our capture grid area, that was larger than usually applied for mark-capture studies for this species, have not underestimated the home-ranges. Evidences of the relation between individual home-range area and body mass were observed. Home-range overlaps occurred between males, females and males with females; the average overlap was 33.74%, which may be related to a promiscuous mating system, and suggests female territoriality.