Date of Award

1-1-2011

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Biological Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (vii, 108 pages) : illustrations

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Roland W Kays

Committee Members

George Robinson, Thomas Caraco, Kurt McKean, Ing-Nang Wang

Keywords

activity, Behavior, Disease, evolution, Mammals, mortality, Peromyscus leucopus, Eastern chipmunk

Subject Categories

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Evolution

Abstract

Causes of mortality reflect the evolutionary forces shaping the physiology and behavior of species. To evaluate the relative importance of these in North American Mammals I compared published data from 69 populations across 27 species. Of the known causes, humans are the main cause of mortality (51.8%), followed by natural causes (48.5%), with predation being the largest natural cause. Populations in remote areas experienced higher hunting mortality, and those closer to human populations suffered increased vehicle collision. Predation mortality was negatively correlated with body mass.

Download

Included in

Evolution Commons

Share

COinS