Sweeping the house clean: burrow architecture and seasonal digging activity in the East African root rat from Tanzania

University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) World Bank Fund (C1B1 of the University of Dar as Salaam, Tanzania. NCB acknowledges funding from the South African DST/NRF SARChI Chair for Mammal Behavioural Ecology and Physiology,University of Pretoria.

[1]  K. Pregitzer,et al.  Effects of Soil Temperature on Nutrient Uptake , 2005 .

[2]  J. Jarvis,et al.  The reproductive biology of the Cape mole‐rat, Georychus capensis (Rodentia, Bathyergidae) , 1988 .

[3]  S. Braude African Mole‐rats: Ecology and Eusociality , 2000 .

[4]  S. Comber,et al.  Cladogenesis and endemism in Tanzanian mole-rats, genus Fukomys: (Rodentia: Bathyergidae): a role for tectonics? , 2010 .

[5]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[6]  Richard S. Miller,et al.  The Summer Burrowing Activity of Pocket Gophers , 1960 .

[7]  N. Kenkel,et al.  Fractals in the Biological Sciences , 1996 .

[8]  C. D. Antinuchi,et al.  Cost of foraging in the subterranean rodent Ctenomys talarum: effect of soil hardness , 2006 .

[9]  G. C. Hickman Burrow System Structure of Pappogeomys castanops (Geomyidae) in Lubbock County, Texas , 1977 .

[10]  Steven C. Le Comber,et al.  Fractal dimension of African mole-rat burrows , 2002 .

[11]  E. Nevo Mosaic Evolution of Subterranean Mammals: Regression, Progression, and Global Convergence , 1999 .

[12]  D. Vleck,et al.  Burrow structure and foraging costs in the fossorial rodent, Thomomys bottae , 1981, Oecologia.

[13]  E. J. Kamprath,et al.  Soil Nutrient Bioavailability—A Mechanistic Approach , 1985 .

[14]  E. Seabloom,et al.  Burrow fractal dimension and foraging success in subterranean rodents: a simulation , 2006 .

[15]  S. C. Smith,et al.  Burrows and burrowing behavior by mammals , 1990 .

[16]  Seismic communication in demon African mole rat Tachyoryctes daemon from Tanzania , 2013, Journal of Ethology.

[17]  H. Burda,et al.  Home-Range Dynamics in a Solitary Subterranean Rodent , 2009 .

[18]  Milton A. Miller Burrows of the Sacramento Valley pocket gopher in flood-irrigated alfalfa fields , 1957 .

[19]  Hynek Burda,et al.  Silvery mole-rats (Heliophobius argenteocinereus, Bathyergidae) change their burrow architecture seasonally , 2003, Naturwissenschaften.

[20]  A. Ward,et al.  Effect of 2,4-D on Abundance and Foods of Pocket Gophers , 1959 .

[21]  Influences of sociality and habitat on African mole-rat burrowing patterns , 2005 .

[22]  J. Jarvis,et al.  Daily and seasonal temperatures in the burrows of African rodent moles , 1988 .

[23]  E. Nevo OBSERVATIONS ON ISRAELI POPULATIONS OF THE MOLE RAT SPALAX E. EHRENBERGI NEHRING 1898 , 1961 .

[24]  S. L. Lima,et al.  SEARCH STRATEGIES FOR LANDSCAPE‐LEVEL INTERPATCH MOVEMENTS , 1999 .

[25]  C. G. Faulkes,et al.  Reproduction in the East African root rat (Tachyoryctes splendens; Rodentia: Spalacidae) from Tanzania: the importance of rainfall , 2013 .

[26]  P. Bateman,et al.  Season but not sex influences burrow length and complexity in the non‐sexually dimorphic solitary Cape mole‐rat (Rodentia: Bathyergidae) , 2012 .

[27]  H. Burda,et al.  Microclimatic stability in burrows of an Afrotropical solitary bathyergid rodent, the silvery mole‐rat (Heliophobius argenteocinereus) , 2004 .

[28]  J. Jarvis,et al.  The burrow systems and burrowing dynamics of the mole‐rats Bathyergus suillus and Cryptomys hottentotus in the fynbos of the south‐western Cape, South Africa , 1986 .

[29]  M. Mora,et al.  HOME-RANGE AND ACTIVITY PATTERNS OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN SUBTERRANEAN RODENT CTENOMYS TALARUM , 2006 .

[30]  D. C. Andersen Geomys bursarius burrowing patterns: influence of season and food patch structure , 1987 .

[31]  R. Šumbera,et al.  Resource characteristics and foraging adaptations in the silvery mole-rat (Heliophobius argenteocinereus), a solitary Afrotropical bathyergid , 2011, Ecological Research.

[32]  G. C. Hickman,et al.  Mound-Building Behavior of the Southeastern Pocket Gopher (Geomys pinetis) , 1973 .

[33]  J. Jarvis,et al.  Burrowing and burrow patterns of East African mole‐rats Tachyoryctes, Heliophobius and Heterocephalus , 2010 .

[34]  Philip W. Bateman,et al.  Burrow architecture and digging activity in the Cape dune mole rat , 2009 .

[35]  T. Whitham,et al.  ADAPTIVE GEOMETRY OF BURROW SPACING IN TWO POCKET GOPHER POPULATIONS , 1982 .

[36]  S. Romañach,et al.  Measures of pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae) burrow geometry: correlates of fractal dimension , 2004 .

[37]  R. Nowak,et al.  Walker's mammals of the world , 1968 .

[38]  F. Beolchini,et al.  The taxonomy of the genus Tachyoryctes: A geometric morphometric approach , 2004 .

[39]  F. Videla,et al.  Architecture of Ctenomys mendocinus (Rodentia) burrows from two habitats differing in abundance and complexity of vegetation , 2000 .

[40]  O. J. Reichman,et al.  Effects of Subterranean Mammalian Herbivores on Vegetation , 1994 .

[41]  S. Comber,et al.  Evolution of African mole-rat sociality: burrow architecture, rainfall and foraging in colonies of the cooperatively breeding Fukomys mechowii , 2008 .

[42]  Erik Verheyen,et al.  Phylogeography and cryptic diversity of the solitary-dwelling silvery mole-rat, genus Heliophobius (family: Bathyergidae) , 2011 .

[43]  J. Jarvis,et al.  A comparison of the ecology of two populations of the common mole-rat, Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus: the effect of aridity on food, foraging and body mass , 2000, Oecologia.

[44]  N. Bennett,et al.  Burrow architecture and burrowing dynamics of the endangered Namaqua dune mole rat (Bathyergus janetta) (Rodentia: Bathyergidae) , 2006 .