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Author (down) Barton, M.D.; Hughes, K.L.
Title Ecology of Rhodococcus equi Type Journal Article
Year 1984 Publication Veterinary Microbiology Abbreviated Journal Vet Microbiol
Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 65-76
Keywords Actinomycetales/growth & development/immunology/*isolation & purification; Animal Husbandry; Animals; Antigens, Bacterial/immunology; Artiodactyla/*microbiology; Australia; Digestive System/microbiology; Ecology; Feces/*microbiology; Horses/*microbiology; Hypersensitivity, Delayed; Rabbits/microbiology; *Soil Microbiology
Abstract A selective broth enrichment technique was used to study the distribution of Rhodococcus equi in soil and grazing animals. Rhodococcus equi was isolated from 54% of soils examined and from the gut contents, rectal faeces and dung of all grazing herbivorous species examined. Rhodococcus equi was not isolated from the faeces or dung of penned animals which did not have access to grazing. The isolation rate from dung was much higher than from other samples and this was found to be due to the ability of R. equi to multiply more readily in dung. Delayed hypersensitivity tests were carried out on horses, sheep and cattle, but only horses reacted significantly. The physiological characteristics of R. equi and the nature of its distribution in the environment suggested that R. equi is a soil organism.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0378-1135 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:6719819 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2688
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Author (down) Barette, C.; Vandal, D.
Title Social rank, dominance, antler size, and access to food in snow-bound wild woodland caribou Type Journal Article
Year 1986 Publication Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Behaviour
Volume 97 Issue 1-2 Pages 118-146
Keywords Canada; Quebec; Artiodactyla; Social dominance; Feeding behavior; Morphology; Antler; Rangifer tarandus; North America; America; Ungulata; Mammalia; Vertebrata
Abstract We spent two winters studying the social behaviour of wild woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) at a time when their main food (ground lichens; Cladina sp.) is available only at snow craters dug by the animals. The competition for access to such craters was severe, the animals constantly trying to take over the craters of others. During a two-month period when a group maintained a constant size (20) and composition (all age-sex classes represented), we could rank the animals in a rather linear dominance hierarchy (Landau's index = 0.87). Rank was correlated with access to resources, percent of time spent active, and percent of time feeding in craters. It was also correlated with age and antler size. However, rank is not an attribute of individuals, but of a relationship between individuals. As such it is only an intervening variable between physical attributes and access to resources, a variable whose value has meaning only within a given group. Among the three attributes studied (age, sex, antler size), the latter was by far the best predictor of the occurrence and outcome of interactions. Between two individuals within any of the three age-sex classes studied (adult and yearling males and adult females), the one with larger antlers initiated significantly more often, escalated its aggression (to the point of hitting the target) less often, and enjoyed a higher success rate in obtaining resources. When their antlers were larger than those of an adult male target (i.e. males that had shed their antlers), adult females won almost all their interactions with adult males even though they escalated only one fourth of them. This clarifies the long-standing speculation that female caribou have antlers and shed them later than males, in order to overcome their sexual handicap in competition for food in the winter. We conclude that the link between rank and dominance of an individual on one hand, and some of its attributes on the other (e.g. sex, age, weight, antler size) is fundamentally realized by the animal itself through its active preference for targets it is likely to beat, i.e. targets with smaller antlers.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4269
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