|
By David Weymiller Daily University
Science News
The
groundhog, celebrated with a special day Friday, Feb. 2,
in the United States, is one of six marmot species in North
America, but unless a team of managers and scientists are
successful, the number of species found on this continent
could shrink to five.
The
research team includes a Colorado State University biologist,
Greg Florant, professor of biology and an expert on marmot
physiology. Florant is a member of the Scientific Advisory
Group to the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Team that
met in mid-January to discuss the issue.
The
Vancouver Island marmot, whose range is entirely in Canada,
is on the U.S. endangered species list as well as Canada's.
Scientists
count 36 Vancouver Island marmots surviving in the wild,
with 39 in captivity. To help draw attention to Canada's
most-endangered species, British Columbia in 1998 declared
May 1 as "Vancouver Island Marmot Day." The date,
Florant said, reminds people that a "Mayday" call
has been issued for the species. (The groundhog, also known
as a "woodchuck" or "whistling pig,"
is more common and not threatened.)
For
the Vancouver Island species, "the 'problem' is a host
of different things," said Florant, who spent last
spring in Austria on a Senior Fulbright Research Fellowship
investigating the physiology and hibernation patterns of
the Alpine marmot.
The
precipitous drop in the Vancouver Island marmot's numbers
since about 1980 could be due to disease; nutrition; possible
global warming; increased predation from wolves, cougars
and golden eagles; and human activities such as clear-cutting
forests.
"Clear-cutting
initially makes good marmot habitat," said Florant.
"However, as vegetation returns, the habitat changes.
Hiding places for predators, difficulty in finding suitable
places for marmot hibernation, even changes in marmot food
plants can reduce the value of the clear cuts and leave
the marmot population occupying them with nowhere to go."
With
an average life expectancy of eight to 10 years, two-year-old
males and even some females are kicked out of the large
group in which they were raised to find their own territory.
It's possible, Florant said, that they're drawn to clear
cuts, but after a few years the once-inviting areas prove
less than ideal in sustaining the little rodents.
Florant
is worried about nutritional issues. His previous research
shows that leafy plants, seeds and nuts eaten during the
warm season contain two fatty acids, linoleic (18:2n-6)
and linolenic acid (18:3n-3). They are key molecules for
successful marmot hibernation, during which body temperatures
drop and metabolism slows.
However,
his research shows that larger amounts of linolenic acid
can make the animal active and cause it to feed when it's
supposed to be hibernating. Florant hypothesizes that linolenic
acid levels in American groundhogs, and not their shadows,
determine whether they emerge from hibernation early.
Excess
linolenic acid could also disrupt the hibernation of Vancouver
Island marmots. Significantly, some research suggests that
most of them die during winter.
A marmot
"halfway house" stands atop Vancouver Island's
Mount Washington so that captive marmots can get outside,
see predators and prepare for life in the wild.
"Basically,
what we're talking about is getting them breeding in captivity
as fast as we can," Florant said. "We've got captive
breeding now, and I think we can bring the Vancouver Island
marmot back. But we have the whole matter of habitat for
marmots and other animals, and that's the larger issue."
Florant
received his doctorate from Stanford University in 1978
and bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1973. He
taught at Swarthmore College and Temple University before
joining Colorado State in 1995.
Groundhog
Day shares Feb. 2 with an ancient European Christian festival
called "Candlemas," which presaged the coming
of spring. Farmers decided if a hedgehog emerged from its
burrow and saw its shadow there'd be six more weeks of winter.
German farmers brought the tradition to the United States.
Lacking hedgehogs, they adopted the groundhog.
|
