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The New Mexico Jumping Mouse (Zapus luteus) is a federally endangered granivore active for only 3 to 5 months annually. Knowledge of diet can help guide habitat recovery and yet despite calls for restoration of its riparian habitat, the diet of Z. luteus remains largely unknown. To date, only 8 plant species have been described in the diet—whereas insectivory, mycophagy, and dietary shifts have only been hypothesized. In the late summer, Z. luteus rapidly accumulates fat for a 9-month hibernation and restoration may fail if seasonal variation in the diet is overlooked. We used DNA metabarcoding on fecal DNA (n = 165) to resolve dietary taxa within multiple trophic levels of the diet and investigate monthly patterns of consumption. Seldom studied in metabarcoding frameworks, we also investigated exogenous contamination in Sherman live-capture traps. Potential contamination among feces, pelage, and trap surfaces was detectable but low (median = 0% to 2%), with fecal communities distinct from exogenous sources. The diet of Z. luteus was varied and most frequently (frequency of occurrence) of graminoids, forbs, lepidopterans, dipterids, and false-truffles. For plant foods, dietary diversity increased throughout their season of activity, shifting from sedges and woody vegetation in the early season (June to July) to forbs and grasses in the late season (August to September). Insect consumption was consistently detected throughout the season, whereas mycophagy was more frequently detected in August, when hypogeous fungi are typically more abundant. The breadth of dietary taxa suggests plasticity in resource use, potentially accommodating diverse patterns of seed availability throughout their active period. Shifts in plant consumption may reflect a dietary adaptation to the phenological patterns of their plant communities, a synchrony that might benefit both pre- and post-hibernation survival. Our work substantially improves our understanding of the diet of Z. luteus (241 dietary taxa) and will be useful for guiding habitat recovery. It also offers scalable methods to further investigate the diet under disturbance contexts (e.g. grazing, wildfire, drought). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lizard diets are highly diverse and have contributed to the diversification, biogeographical distributions, and evolution of novel traits across this global radiation. Many parts of a lizard's ecology—including habitat preferences, foraging modes, predation risks, interspecific competition, and thermal constraints, among others—interact to shape diets, and dietary niche partitioning simultaneously contributes to co‐occurrence within communities. We used DNA metabarcoding of fecal samples to identify prey items in the diets of three sympatric Sceloporus lizards in the Madrean Sky Islands of Arizona, USA. We found evidence for dietary niche partitioning between interacting species concomitant with their respective ecologies. We also compared diet composition between populations to understand how conserved or plastic species' diets are between different environments. Our findings suggest that habitat generalists are also diet generalists in this system, while the same may be true for specialists. The identification of prey items to much lower taxonomic levels than previously documented further reveals hidden diversity in the diets of these species and underscores the utility of metabarcoding for understanding the full complexity of lizard diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bats are prodigious consumers of agricultural and forest pests, and are, therefore, a natural asset for agricultural productivity, suppressing populations of such pests. This study provides baseline information of diet of 143 bats belonging to eight insectivorous bat species from agricultural areas of Rwanda while evaluating the effectiveness of bats as pest suppressors. Using DNA metabarcoding to analyze bat fecal pellets, 85 different insect species were detected, with 60% (n = 65), 64% (n = 11) and 78% (n = 9) found to be agricultural pests from eastern, northern and western regions, respectively. Given the high percentages of agricultural pests detected, we submit that Rwandan insectivorous bats have the capacity for biocontrol of agricultural pests. Rwandan bat populations should be protected and promoted since they may foster higher crop yields and sustainable livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons) is a cryptic, primarily nocturnal marsupial, for which behavioral information is notably lacking. Animals that are difficult to observe can be identified and tracked by individual-specific genotypes obtained from remotely collected DNA sources; wombats are excellent candidates for such an approach because freshly plucked hair is easily captured at burrow entrances. Twice a year during 1999-2001, we employed an intensive remote hair-collection regime coupled with individual-resolution genetic analysis to sample a South Australian population in a 63.3-[km.sup.2] protected conservation reserve. Individuals were identified using 5 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers and further examined using another 10 markers to resolve ambiguities, enabling assessment of burrow- and space-use patterns. Analyses of rate of discovery of new individuals indicated that nearly all wombats inhabiting the study area were detected (102); there were > 1,000 'capture' events, and 90% of individuals were detected multiple times. Surprisingly, a female sex bias existed despite females being the dispersing sex. Space use was conservative and likely a reflection of adaptations enabling energy conservation. Transits between the northern and southern sections of the study area were nearly nonexistent. No sex or consistent seasonal differences were found in burrow, warren, or space use, other than in interaction with other factors. However, a strong increase in activity and space use in September 2001 relative to other sampling periods may be attributed to activities associated with mating. The thoroughness and evenness of this study's sampling strategy was markedly effective for this species, as, with appropriate modification and optimization, it will likely be for other shy and cryptic organisms. Key words: marsupial biology, microsatellites, molecular ecology, noninvasive genetic sampling, space use

Spatiotemporal distributions of key resources are hypothesized to underpin sociobiological patterns. Burrow availability and quality is of paramount importance to fossorial animals. The southern hairy-nosed wombat ( Lasiorhinus latifrons) burrows in both hard and friable soils. Theoretical and empirical studies suggest that the harder substrate should promote closer geographical clustering of burrows than in softer soils. Clustered burrows are expected to be associated with larger group sizes. If sociality is driven by constraint rather than advantage, patterns of spatial and temporal distribution of animals within and among groups may show indications of avoidance or even antagonism, and ‘making the best of a bad job’ via positive kin associations to offset the disadvantages of high-density living. To test these ideas, we compared warren relatedness and social structure of L. latifrons on friable soils (Nullarbor Plain) and hard calcrete (Brookfield Conservation Park, BCP). Individuals were sampled by noninvasive collection of hairs for genotyping to identify individuals and to estimate their space-use and associative behaviour with respect to relatedness. Burrows in calcrete were indeed more clumped, and warren and group size larger. Differences in spatiotemporal organization and relatedness structure between sites were in the expected direction: (i) Nullarbor males associated and shared warrens less than at BCP; and (ii) Nullarbor spatial relatedness patterning data were not consistent with proposed female breeding dispersal, in contrast to those at BCP. Under Nullarbor (low density) conditions, cooperation or tolerance between males may be less advantageous, and accessing or digging burrows should be less of a constraint for juvenile females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) are the bat species in North America most frequently found to be rabid because of their high rate of human contact and thus submissions for rabies testing, of which, 4-5% are positive. The social behavior of big brown bats during the summer months may drive space use and potential viral exposure to conspecifics and mesocarnivores. We collected 88 unique genetic samples via buccal swabs from big brown bats captured at four maternity roosts surrounding a golf course during the summer of 2013. We used seven microsatellite loci to estimate genetic relatedness among individuals and genetic structure within and among colonies to infer whether females selected roosts based on kinship and used genetics and radio telemetry to determine the frequency of roost switching. We found roost switching through genetics and telemetry, and no evidence of elevated genetic relatedness within colonies or genetic structure among colonies. Social cohesion based on relatedness may not act to constrain the pathogen to a particular roost area, and thus, geographic mobility may increase viral exposure of bats in neighboring areas., (© Wildlife Disease Association 2021.)