Movement, Habitat Selection, and Home Range of American Marsupials

CÁCERES, NILTON C.; DELCIELLOS, ANA C; PREVEDELLO, JAYME A.; BRUM, MARIANA N; ALBANESE, M. SOLEDAD

American and Australasian Marsupials. An Evolutionary, Biogeographical, and Ecological Approach

Springer Nature

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2022; p. 1 - 27

Mammal movements and home ranges are highly influenced by endogenous and exogenous factors. In this chapter, the factors driving the movement, habitat selection, home range, and territoriality of American marsupials are reviewed. First, movements of these marsupials are reviewed by categorizing them into movement types such as dispersal and searching (e.g., foraging movements). Second, their habitat selection and the drivers of home range size variation are reviewed. Third, the evidence for territoriality within the group is evaluated. The movements and home range sizes of American marsupials are affected by endogenous and exogenous factors. As males are usually larger in size than females, they tend to have larger home ranges and greater dispersal abilities. Movement rate and home range size tend to increase during the dry/cold, resource-poor season. Sex, body size, and species-specific differences influence how individuals move, perceive, and select their habitat. Females show trends towards philopatry and are territorial in some species. Evidence for territoriality is observed in different lineages such as Marmosini, Thylamyini, and Didelphini. A general pattern of movement for didelphid marsupials is that males disperse more from their natal sites than females, searching for females in the breeding season, and females disperse less, assuring resources near their natal sites.