caa a22 4500 469097051 CHVBK 20180323133034.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e19920401xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/BF00317151 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/BF00317151 Kerley Graham Department of Zoology, University of Port Elizabeth, P.O. Box 1600, 6000, Port Elizabeth, South Africa aut Small mammal seed consumption in the Karoo, South Africa: further evidence for divergence in desert biotic processes [Elektronische Daten] [Graham Kerley] Summary: Annual seed consumption by a small mammal community in the semi-arid Karoo, South Africa, was calculated using population, biomass and dietary estimates and published estimates of field metabolic rate. The community comprised a macroscelid elephant shrew Macroscelides proboscideus, and two rodents Gerbillurus paeba and Desmodillus auricularis. Only G. paeba consumed seed during the study, and then in low amounts (annual mean = 0.4% of diet, insects = 53%, herbage = 47%), with M. proboscideus and D. auriocularis consuming mainly insects (88%) and herbage (90%), respectively. Energy requirements for the G. paeba population averaged 568 kJ ha−1 day−1. Total seed consumption was estimated to be ≈ 140 g ha−1, or 155 000 seeds ha−1 which represents ≈0.5% of the annual seed production for this site. These levels of granivory by small mammals are significantly lower than those recorded for North American deserts, and raises the question as to why granivory varies between these systems. These findings also refute the hypothesis that as a result of the harshness and similarity of physical conditions in deserts, the properties of desert communities are convergent. Springer-Verlag, 1992 Granivory nationallicence Seed production nationallicence Rodents nationallicence Divergence between deserts nationallicence Diet nationallicence Oecologia Springer-Verlag 89/4(1992-04-01), 471-475 0029-8549 89:4<471 1992 89 442 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317151 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317151 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Kerley Graham Department of Zoology, University of Port Elizabeth, P.O. Box 1600, 6000, Port Elizabeth, South Africa aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Oecologia Springer-Verlag 89/4(1992-04-01), 471-475 0029-8549 89:4<471 1992 89 442 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer