The trend towards sociality in three species of southern African mole-rats (Bathyergidae) : causes and consequences

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dc.contributor.advisorJarvis, J U Men_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBennett, Nigel Charlesen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-11T12:21:40Z
dc.date.available2014-10-11T12:21:40Z
dc.date.issued1988en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographies.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThree species of southern African mole-rats, possessing a wide range of social organisation were used to investigate the trend towards increasing sociality occurring in species inhabiting increasingly arid environments. The strictly solitary Georychus capensis, the weakly social Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus and the highly social Cryptomys damarensis were chosen for this investigation and my findings are compared, where possible, with the eusocial Heterocephalus glaber. The level of social organisation exhibited by a particular mole-rat species appears to be dependent upon a number of physical factors as well as on the food resource distribution, its nutritional properties and its availability. Thus the soil moisture content, the annual rainfall pattern and the wear upon the extrabuccal incisors limit the amount of burrowing which can be undertaken by a single mole-rat, both on a daily and seasonal basis. These factors together with the size, distribution, digestible energy and fibre content of the geophytes on which they feed and nearest-neighbour distances occurring between the belowground portions of the geophytes, may be crucial in determining whether a habitat is suitable for solitary or colonial mole-rats.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationBennett, N. C. (1988). <i>The trend towards sociality in three species of southern African mole-rats (Bathyergidae) : causes and consequences</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8413en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationBennett, Nigel Charles. <i>"The trend towards sociality in three species of southern African mole-rats (Bathyergidae) : causes and consequences."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8413en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationBennett, N. 1988. The trend towards sociality in three species of southern African mole-rats (Bathyergidae) : causes and consequences. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Bennett, Nigel Charles AB - Three species of southern African mole-rats, possessing a wide range of social organisation were used to investigate the trend towards increasing sociality occurring in species inhabiting increasingly arid environments. The strictly solitary Georychus capensis, the weakly social Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus and the highly social Cryptomys damarensis were chosen for this investigation and my findings are compared, where possible, with the eusocial Heterocephalus glaber. The level of social organisation exhibited by a particular mole-rat species appears to be dependent upon a number of physical factors as well as on the food resource distribution, its nutritional properties and its availability. Thus the soil moisture content, the annual rainfall pattern and the wear upon the extrabuccal incisors limit the amount of burrowing which can be undertaken by a single mole-rat, both on a daily and seasonal basis. These factors together with the size, distribution, digestible energy and fibre content of the geophytes on which they feed and nearest-neighbour distances occurring between the belowground portions of the geophytes, may be crucial in determining whether a habitat is suitable for solitary or colonial mole-rats. DA - 1988 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1988 T1 - The trend towards sociality in three species of southern African mole-rats (Bathyergidae) : causes and consequences TI - The trend towards sociality in three species of southern African mole-rats (Bathyergidae) : causes and consequences UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8413 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/8413
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationBennett NC. The trend towards sociality in three species of southern African mole-rats (Bathyergidae) : causes and consequences. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences, 1988 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8413en_ZA
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Biological Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherZoologyen_ZA
dc.titleThe trend towards sociality in three species of southern African mole-rats (Bathyergidae) : causes and consequencesen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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