The mammals of Galveston Island /
This report summarizes one year of field work designed to
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1996.
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| Summary: | This report summarizes one year of field work designed to both assess the mammalian fauna of Galveston and Pelican Islands and examine the presence and prevalence of hantaviruses in rodent populations in the Galveston Bay area. Sixteen species of mammals were verified in the Galveston Bay area, thirteen of which occurred on Galveston Island or nearby Pelican Island. Rodents and carnivores made up the bulk of these, accounting for 83% of the diversity. However, Galveston and Pelican Islands only contained 32% of the species documented for the mainland of the Galveston Bay area. The factors limiting mammalian diversity on Galveston and Pelican Islands appear to be major storm events and lack of re-colonization by mammals after such an event. The distribution of the mammalian species according to major vegetation habitat types on the Islands revealed that thefreshwater marsh and pond habitat contained the highest level of species diversity, whereas the dune habitat contained the lowest level. Trapping records also revealed that commensal rodents have successfully invaded undeveloped areas on the Islands, whereas native rodents have been excluded from developed areas. Serologic results indicate that hantaviruses were present in four rodent species in the study area, with 4.2% of individuals tested showing a positive response for antibody. However, infection rates varied widely with species and geographic area, with mainland populations of Oryzomys palustris demonstrating the highest rate of infection. Several hantavirus isolates were obtained from lungs of seropositive animals. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major subject: Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences". |
| Physical Description: | x, 71 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references: pages 66-70. |