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9 pages, 3256 KB

Open AccessArticle

Wood Mice Utilize Understory Vegetation of Leafless Dead Dwarf Bamboo Culms as a Habitat and Foraging Site

by Rui Kajita and Hisashi Kajimura

Diversity 2024, 16(8), 458; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16080458 - 1 Aug 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1443

In this study, we conducted a field survey in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, to clarify whether rodent activity is affected by the presence or absence of dead culms of the dwarf bamboo Sasa borealis, a species characterized by a 120-year cycle of large-scale flowering, seeding, and dying. We found that a relatively larger number of wood mice, Apodemus speciosus and Apodemus argenteus, were caught using Sherman live traps in areas with dead S. borealis culms than in areas lacking the culms, thereby indicating that S. borealis culms, even if dead and leafless, can function as shelters in which the mice can evade predation. However, in the years when A. speciosus was abundant, A. argenteus avoided areas inhabited by A. speciosus and was restricted to areas lacking dead culms, which were devoid of shelter. A feeding experiment using Castanea crenata acorns clearly revealed that a larger number of acorns were foraged by mice in areas containing dead culms. Moreover, in the area with dead culms, the mice preferentially removed sound acorns prior to taking acorns that had been vacated by infesting moth larvae. These findings indicate that the shelter function of dead culms enables mice to carefully select sound acorns, which are nutritionally more beneficial than those that have been infested by moth larvae. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wildlife in Natural and Altered Environments)

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19 pages, 13410 KB

Open AccessArticle

Ultrastructural Analysis of Large Japanese Field Mouse (Apodemus speciosus) Testes Exposed to Low-Dose-Rate (LDR) Radiation after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident

by Marta Gatti, Manuel Belli, Mariacarla De Rubeis, Syun Tokita, Hikari Ikema, Hideaki Yamashiro, Yohei Fujishima, Donovan Anderson, Valerie Swee Ting Goh, Hisashi Shinoda, Akifumi Nakata, Manabu Fukumoto, Tomisato Miura, Stefania Annarita Nottola, Guido Macchiarelli and Maria Grazia Palmerini

Biology 2024, 13(4), 239; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13040239 - 4 Apr 2024

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2644

Abstract

Since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, great attention has been paid to the impact of chronic low-dose-rate (LDR) radiation exposure on biological systems. The reproductive system is sensitive to radiation, with implications connected to infertility. We investigated the testis ultrastructure of the wild large Japanese field mouse (Apodemus speciosus) from three areas contaminated after the FDNPP accident, with different levels of LDR radiation (0.29 µSv/h, 5.11 µSv/h, and 11.80 µSv/h). Results showed good preservation of the seminiferous tubules, comparable to the unexposed animals (controls), except for some ultrastructural modifications. Increases in the numerical density of lipid droplet clusters in spermatogenic cells were found at high levels of LDR radiation, indicating an antioxidant activity rising due to radiation recovery. In all groups, wide intercellular spaces were found between spermatogenic cells, and cytoplasmic vacuolization increased at intermediate and high levels and vacuolated mitochondria at the high-level. However, these findings were also related to the physiological dynamics of spermatogenesis. In conclusion, the testes of A. speciosus exposed to LDR radiation associated with the FDNPP accident showed a normal spermatogenesis, with some ultrastructural changes. These outcomes may add information on the reproductive potential of mammals chronically exposed to LDR radiation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Developmental and Reproductive Biology)

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12 pages, 5493 KB

Open AccessArticle

Rodent-Borne Orthohantaviruses in Vietnam, Madagascar and Japan

by Fuka Kikuchi, Kae Senoo, Satoru Arai, Kimiyuki Tsuchiya, Nguyễn Trường Sơn, Masaharu Motokawa, Marie Claudine Ranorosoa, Saw Bawm, Kyaw San Lin, Hitoshi Suzuki, Akira Unno, Keisuke Nakata, Masashi Harada, Keiko Tanaka-Taya, Shigeru Morikawa, Motoi Suzuki, Tetsuya Mizutani and Richard Yanagihara

Viruses 2021, 13(7), 1343; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13071343 - 12 Jul 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3686

Abstract

Hantaviruses are harbored by multiple small mammal species in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. To ascertain the geographic distribution and virus-host relationships of rodent-borne hantaviruses in Japan, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Madagascar, RNAlater™-preserved lung tissues of 981 rodents representing 40 species, collected in 2011–2017, were analyzed for hantavirus RNA by RT-PCR. Our data showed Hantaan orthohantavirus Da Bie Shan strain in the Chinese white-bellied rat (Niviventer confucianus) in Vietnam, Thailand; orthohantavirus Anjo strain in the black rat (Rattus rattus) in Madagascar; and Puumala orthohantavirus Hokkaido strain in the grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) in Japan. The Hokkaido strain of Puumala virus was also detected in the large Japanese field mouse (Apodemus speciosus) and small Japanese field mouse (Apodemus argenteus), with evidence of host-switching as determined by co-phylogeny mapping. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hantavirus)

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