Psychrotolerant Microfungi Associated with Deer Mice (<i>Peromyscus maniculatus</i>) in a White-nose Syndrome Positive Bat Hibernaculum in Eastern Canada

With the exception of recent work on bats, no reports on the fungi present on live mammals in underground habitats have been published. We cultured psychrotolerant fungi from the external surface and faeces of live Deer Mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), and from the intestinal contents of a single freshly killed P. maniculatus, overwintering in a white-nose syndrome positive bat hibernaculum and from adjacent summer forest in eastern Canada. A low diversity of psychrotolerant fungi was cultured from P. maniculatus compared with that found in previous studies of the mycoflora of bats and arthropods occupying bat hibernacula in the region. Although the grooming habits of P. maniculatus may reduce the accumulation of a diverse psychrotolerant fungal assemblage on their external surface, we demonstrate that active euthermic mammals in underground habitats can carry viable spores of psychrotolerant fungi, both externally and internally. Small rodents using cave habitats may also play a role in dispersing psychrotolerant fungi between caves and suitable low-temperature habitats (i.e., burrows) in adjacent forest.

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Energy partitioning in torpor-sensitive and torpor-resistant deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus)

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z96-130 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 74 (7) ◽

pp. 1179-1186 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Brandon A. Sheafor ◽

Gregory K. Snyder

Keyword(s):

Energy Saving ◽

Peromyscus Maniculatus ◽

Daily Basis ◽

Deer Mice ◽

Energy Costs ◽

Daily Torpor ◽

Small Rodents ◽

Energy Turnover ◽

Fat Reserves ◽

Consumption Rates

We examined metabolic rates in 25 deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus nebrascensis, held at an ambient temperature of 10 °C and found that all of them had the ability to enter torpor. However, we found a gradation between the most torpor-sensitive and the most torpor-resistant animals, suggesting that the expression of torpor is more than a simple all-or-nothing phenomenon. On a daily basis, the most torpor-sensitive and torpor-resistant mice partition energy similarly when food is not restricted. On restricted food, both groups of mice decrease the amount of time spent active and increase the amount of time spent at rest and in torpor. In addition, both groups of mice decrease oxygen-consumption rates and body temperatures during rest and the most torpor-sensitive mice further decrease energy costs by entering longer and deeper bouts of torpor. However, the overall energy saving due to torpor is only about 6%. Thus, the widely held view that the adaptive advantage of daily torpor is a large energy saving may be open to question. Alternatively, daily torpor may be important for reducing the rate of energy turnover when these small rodents must rely on body fat reserves.

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Karyotypic variation in populations of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) from eastern Canada and the northeastern United States

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/cjz-76-3-584 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 76 (3) ◽

pp. 584-588 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Stephanie M. Myers Unice ◽

David W. Hale ◽

Ira F. Greenbaum

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Peromyscus Maniculatus ◽

Deer Mice ◽

Northeastern United States ◽

Eastern Canada ◽

Karyotypic Variation

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Karyotypic variation in populations of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) from eastern Canada and the northeastern United States

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z97-210 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 76 (3) ◽

pp. 584-588 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Stephanie M. Myers Unice ◽

David W Hale ◽

Ira F Greenbaum

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Peromyscus Maniculatus ◽

Chromosome 8 ◽

Deer Mice ◽

Northeastern United States ◽

Eastern Canada ◽

Chromosome 10 ◽

Report Data ◽

Karyotypic Variation ◽

Inverted Condition

The karyotypes of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) from populations of five subspecies from the northeastern United States and eastern Canada were analyzed by G- and C-banding. Within an invariant diploid number of 48, intra- and inter-populational variation in the number of autosomal arms (80-86) was attributable to a pericentric inversion (chromosome 8) and (or) the presence of heterochromatic short arms (chromosomes 8, 10, 12, and 19). The plesiomorphic (noninverted) condition of chromosome 10 in these five populations is unique among deer mice; previous chromosome-banding studies of P. maniculatus report data for geographically central or western populations and indicate only the derived (inverted) condition of chromosome 10. As the plesiomorphic condition of chromosome 10 is apparently restricted to the northeastern forest form of P. maniculatus, the morphology of this chromosome potentially represents a simple and discrete character for resolving the historically problematic question of the specific status of the eastern grassland and forest morphotypes of deer mice.

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No Change Detected in Culturable Fungal Assemblages on Cave Walls in Eastern Canada with the Introduction of Pseudogymnoascus destructans

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d11120222 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 222 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Karen J. Vanderwolf ◽

David Malloch ◽

Donald F. McAlpine

Keyword(s):

Fungal Diversity ◽

Pseudogymnoascus Destructans ◽

Eastern Canada ◽

White Nose Syndrome ◽

Subsequent Decrease ◽

Media Types ◽

Fungal Assemblages ◽

Over Time ◽

Fungal Assemblage ◽

Subsequent Disappearance

Studies of fungi in caves have become increasingly important with the advent of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by the invasive fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) that has killed an estimated 6.5 million North American bats. We swabbed cave walls in New Brunswick, Canada, in 2012 and 2015 to determine whether the culturable fungal assemblage on cave walls changed after the introduction of Pd and subsequent decrease in hibernating bat populations. We also compared fungal assemblages on cave walls to previous studies on the fungal assemblages of arthropods and hibernating bats in the same sites. The fungal diversity of bats and cave walls was more similar than on arthropods. The diversity and composition of fungal assemblages on cave walls was significantly different among media types and sites but did not differ over time. Therefore, no change in the culturable fungal assemblage present on cave walls was detected with the introduction of Pd and subsequent disappearance of the hibernating bat population over a 3-year period. This suggests that fungi documented in caves in the region prior to the outbreak of Pd do not require regular transmission of spores by bats to maintain fungal diversity at these sites.

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