| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 自然資源管理研究所 === 90 === Food habits of two sympatric lowland rodents, Mus caroli and Apodemus agrarius, were investigated in eastern Taiwan by gut content analysis. Rodents were captured in three habitats (grassland, leucaena shrubs, edge between grassland and shrubs) during the winter of 2000 and the summer of 2001. Food items in gut were classified into 12 categories. Diets of the two species in two seasons and in three habitats were compared according to their perspective frequencies of occurrence and relative importance of each food category. Relative importance of food categories differed by species, season and habitat. Seasonal and inter-habitat variations in diets may be related to availability of food resources. Compared with A. agrarius, herbaceous seeds were consumed in greater amount by M. caroli, while invertebrates were less important to the species. Niche breadth in the diet of M. caroli was less than that of A. agrarius. Food habits of the two species may explain their different habitat use patterns found elsewhere. The widely distributed pattern of M. caroli may be a passive result of its majoring in diet on the herbaceous species dominant in lowland Taiwan. Spores of arbuscular-vesicular mycorrhizal fungi (VAMF) were found in 73% M. caroli and 94% A. agrarius specimens and were in great quantity in both species. Average spore number in A. agarius was higher than in M. caroli (3177 vs 423 spores/ml when gut contents were preserved in 60ml alcohol). Since VAMF are likely to influence community structure of plant, the role of rodents in VAMF spore dispersal deserves further attention.
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