GEOGRAPHIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PATTERNS OF BODY SIZE DISTRIBUTION IN THE WATER RAT Nectomys squamipes (RODENTIA: MURIDAE: SIGMODONTINAE)

FABIANA HELENA DA SILVA, CIBELE RODRIGUES BONVICINO, DARDO ANDREA MARTÍ, PAULO SERGIO D’ANDREA AND CLAUDIO J BIDAU

Caxambu – MG, BRASIL

Congreso; VIII Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil; 2007

Sociedade de Ecologia do Brasil

Size is the most conspicuous trait of living things and it correlates with the majority of life history characteristics of organisms, thus being an excellent dependent variable for testing hypotheses of size-dependence on geographic, climatic and biotic factors (Blackburn et al., 1999; Ashton et al., 2000; Medina et al., 2007). Understanding size variation in small mammals that are reservoirs of human maladies is essential since  parasite infestation and incidence, strongly depend on geographic variations in body mass,  sexual size dimorphism, and age/size composition of populations (Moore & Wilson, 2002; Nunn et al., 2004). Furthermore, body size variation is amenable to be analysed at local, specific or macroecological levels. Within this conceptual framework, we have been developing small-and large-scale analyses of body size variation of South American rodents, to understand biotic and abiotic factors influencing the observed patterns (i.e. Bergmann’s rule).