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Mongolian Gerbils as an Animal Model of Wound Healing

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Published on: January 6, 2023

Defense by exploitation in Negev gerbils.

Jorge F S Menezes¹, Burt P Kotler¹, Austin K Dixon¹

¹Marco and Louise Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, SIDEER, BIDR, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 8499000, Israel.

Behavioural Processes

|February 5, 2019

Summary

Non-traplining animals may use "defense by exploitation" to manage food patches. This behavior, observed in some gerbil species, involves increasing visits under competition, especially when travel costs are low.

Keywords:

Gerbils Movement Optimal foraging Patch depletion

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Area of Science:

Behavioral Ecology
Animal Behavior
Foraging Theory

Background:

Non-traplining animals forage dynamically, adjusting patch use based on resource availability and competition.
Defense by exploitation is a proposed strategy where animals increase foraging effort in response to increased competition.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if non-traplining animals exhibit defense by exploitation.
To determine how intra-specific competition affects visitation rates to food patches in gerbils.

Main Methods:

Field observations and experiments with two gerbil species (Gerbillus pyramidum and Gerbillus andersoni allenbyi) in the Negev Desert.
Manipulating the number of individuals in resource patches to assess competition effects.
Comparing empirical results with theoretical expectations through simulation.

Main Results:

Gerbillus pyramidum showed evidence of defense by exploitation in the initial test.
Adding or removing individuals did not consistently alter visitation rates in subsequent tests.
Simulations supported increased visitation under competition only when locomotion costs were minimal.

Conclusions:

Defense by exploitation may occur in some non-traplining species like G. pyramidum, but is not universally observed.
The prevalence of this behavior is influenced by factors such as locomotion costs and experimental design.