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Start Over Creator Pei, Yan-Xin

1. Coprophagy in Brandt's vole (Microtus brandti) from the Inner Mongolian grasslands

Creator:
Pei, Yan-Xin, Wang, De-Hua, Wand, Zu-Wang, Zima, Jan, Griffiths, Huw I., Burda, Hynek, and Sedláček, František
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
Brandt's vole, Microtus brandti, and coprophagy
Language:
English
Description:
We studied coprophagous behaviour in Brandt's vole using a solute food marker (Co-EDTA). Examination of marker concentrations in the stomach, small intestine, caecum and colon of voles killed at half-hour intervals after a pulse dose of Co-EDTA indicated that the marker was recycled to the stomach by coprophagy. Recycling of digesta via coprophagy enables Brandt's vole to utilise diets of higher fibre contents. This is the first evidence for coprphagy in this species.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

2. Digestive tract morphology and food habits in six species of rodents

Creator:
Wang, De-Hua, Pei, Yan-Xin, Yang, Jun-Cheng, and Wang, Zu-Wang
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
gastrointestinal tract, life history trait, and small mammals
Language:
English
Description:
To investigate the relationship between food habits and digestive tract morphology, the lengths of gastrointestinal tracts of six species of rodents with different food habits were compared. The results showed that the strict herbivores, Microtus brandti, had the largest large intestine and ceacum, and the tracts of the other five granivorous/omnivorous species (Spermophilus daurica, Phodopus robovskii, Cricetulus barabensis, Cricetulus triton, Meriones unguiculatus) varied to different extents depending on the proportions of seed, vegetative and animal foods in their diets. Small intestine lengths did not reflect diet fiber content for these six rodent species and stomach lengths in granivorous/omnivorous rodents were not larger than herbivores. Our results suggest that the hind gut is more important for herbivorous than for granivorous/omnivorous rodents and could be a relative reliable indicator for food habits, however, small intestine is not a good indicator for food habits. This study also showed that there is no direct relationship between life history traits and gut morphology in these six rodent species, although more life history traits should be considered.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/