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45-464: (Redirected from Pygmy Shrew ) Pygmy shrew may refer to one of various species of shrews : American pygmy shrew , Sorex hoyi Eurasian pygmy shrew , Sorex minutus Etruscan shrew , Suncus etruscus Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Pygmy shrew . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

90-400: A peptide which has been studied for use in treating ovarian cancer . Also, along with the bats and toothed whales , some species of shrews use echolocation . Unlike most other mammals, shrews lack zygomatic bones (also called the jugals ), so have incomplete zygomatic arches . The only terrestrial mammals known to echolocate are two genera ( Sorex and Blarina ) of shrews,

135-503: A big stone or tree trunk, they probably are not able to disentangle echo scenes, but rather derive information on habitat type from the overall call reverberations. This might be comparable to human hearing whether one calls into a beech forest or into a reverberant wine cellar. The 385 shrew species are placed in 26 genera, which are grouped into three living subfamilies: Crocidurinae ( white-toothed shrews ), Myosoricinae (African shrews), and Soricinae ( red-toothed shrews ). In addition,

180-469: A large role in cycling the nutrients from the plant litter back into the ecosystem. Litter provides habitat for a variety of organisms. Certain plants are specially adapted for germinating and thriving in the litter layers. For example, bluebell ( Hyacinthoides non-scripta ) shoots puncture the layer to emerge in spring. Some plants with rhizomes , such as common wood sorrel ( Oxalis acetosella ) do well in this habitat. Many organisms that live on

225-424: A larger proportion of the available nutrients is reabsorbed. After senescence, the nutrient-enriched leaves become litterfall and settle on the soil below. Litterfall is the dominant pathway for nutrient return to the soil, especially for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). The accumulation of these nutrients in the top layer of soil is known as soil immobilization . Once the litterfall has settled, decomposition of

270-517: A more stable leaf litter quantity throughout the year. This thin, delicate layer of organic material can be easily affected by humans. For instance, forest litter raking as a replacement for straw in husbandry is an old non-timber practice in forest management that has been widespread in Europe since the seventeenth century. In 1853, an estimated 50 Tg of dry litter per year was raked in European forests, when

315-403: A result of this variability due to seasons, the decomposition rate for any given area will also be variable. Latitude also has a strong effect on litterfall rates and thickness. Specifically, litterfall declines with increasing latitude. In tropical rainforests, there is a thin litter layer due to the rapid decomposition, while in boreal forests , the rate of decomposition is slower and leads to

360-441: A simple approach to the collection of litterfall, most of which centers around one piece of equipment, known as a litterbag . A litterbag is simply any type of container that can be set out in any given area for a specified amount of time to collect the plant litter that falls from the canopy above. Litterbags are generally set in random locations within a given area and marked with GPS or local coordinates, and then monitored on

405-422: A specific time interval. Once the samples have been collected, they are usually classified on type, size and species (if possible) and recorded on a spreadsheet. When measuring bulk litterfall for an area, ecologists will weigh the dry contents of the litterbag. By this method litterfall flux can be defined as: The litterbag may also be used to study decomposition of the litter layer. By confining fresh litter in

450-447: A very different path. Litter is produced both inland by terrestrial plants and moved to the coast by fluvial processes , and by mangrove ecosystems . From the coast Robertson & Daniel 1989 found it is then removed by the tide , crabs and microbes . They also noticed that which of those three is most significant depends on the tidal regime . Nordhaus et al. 2011 find crabs forage for leaves at low tide and if their detritivory

495-400: A year; in the tropics, they breed all year round; in temperate zones, they cease breeding only in the winter. Shrews have gestation periods of 17–32 days. The female often becomes pregnant within a day or so of giving birth, and lactates during her pregnancy, weaning one litter as the next is born. Shrews live 12 to 30 months. A characteristic behaviour observed in many species of shrew

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540-1208: Is about 15 cm (6 in) long and weighs around 100 g ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2  oz) The Etruscan shrew ( Suncus etruscus ), at about 3.5 cm ( 1 + 3 ⁄ 8  in) and 1.8 grams (28 grains), is the smallest known living terrestrial mammal. In general, shrews are terrestrial creatures that forage for seeds, insects, nuts, worms, and a variety of other foods in leaf litter and dense vegetation e.g. grass , but some specialise in climbing trees, living underground, living under snow , or even hunting in water. They have small eyes and generally poor vision , but have excellent senses of hearing and smell . They are very active animals, with voracious appetites. Shrews have unusually high metabolic rates , above that expected in comparable small mammals. For this reason, they need to eat almost constantly like moles . Shrews in captivity can eat 1 ⁄ 2 to 2 times their own body weight in food daily. They do not hibernate , but some species are capable of entering torpor . In winter, many species undergo morphological changes that drastically reduce their body weight. Shrews can lose between 30% and 50% of their body weight, shrinking

585-412: Is known as "caravanning". This is when a litter of young shrews form a line behind the mother, each gripping the shrew in front by the fur at the base of the tail. Shrews are unusual among mammals in a number of respects. Unlike most mammals, some species of shrews are venomous . Shrew venom is not conducted into the wound by fangs , but by grooves in the teeth. The venom contains various compounds, and

630-446: Is one of the main constituents of wintering deer and elk diets. During leaf senescence , a portion of the plant's nutrients are reabsorbed from the leaves. The nutrient concentrations in litterfall differ from the nutrient concentrations in the mature foliage by the reabsorption of constituents during leaf senescence. Plants that grow in areas with low nutrient availability tend to produce litter with low nutrient concentrations, as

675-405: Is seen as a function of seasonality; each individual species of plant has seasonal losses of certain parts of its body, which can be determined by the collection and classification of plant litterfall throughout the year, and in turn affects the thickness of the litter layer. In tropical environments, the largest amount of debris falls in the latter part of dry seasons and early during wet season. As

720-588: Is the initial leaf litter and k {\displaystyle k} is a constant fraction of detrital mass. The mass-balance approach is also utilized in these experiments and suggests that the decomposition for a given amount of time should equal the input of litterfall for that same amount of time. For study various groups from edaphic fauna you need a different mesh sizes in the litterbags In some regions of glaciated North America, earthworms have been introduced where they are not native. Non-native earthworms have led to environmental changes by accelerating

765-462: Is the predominant disposal route, they can take 80% of leaf material. Bakkar et al 2017 studied the chemical contribution of the resulting crab defecation. They find crabs pass a noticeable amount of undegraded lignins to both the sediments and water composition. They also find that the exact carbonaceous contribution of each plant species can be traced from the plant, through the crab, to its sediment or water disposition in this way. Crabs are usually

810-577: The Boreoeutheria magnorder . Shrews have sharp, spike-like teeth, whereas rodents have gnawing front incisor teeth. Shrews are distributed almost worldwide . Among the major tropical and temperate land masses, only New Guinea , Australia , New Zealand , and South America have no native shrews. However, as a result of the Great American Interchange , South America does have a relatively recently naturalised population, present only in

855-446: The order Eulipotyphla . True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews , otter shrews , elephant shrews , West Indies shrews , or marsupial shrews , which belong to different families or orders. Although its external appearance is generally that of a long-nosed mouse, a shrew is not a rodent , as mice are. It is, in fact, a much closer relative of hedgehogs and moles; shrews are related to rodents only in that both belong to

900-445: The stamen of flowering plants). Items larger than 2 cm diameter are referred to as coarse litter , while anything smaller is referred to as fine litter or litter. The type of litterfall is most directly affected by ecosystem type. For example, leaf tissues account for about 70 percent of litterfall in forests, but woody litter tends to increase with forest age. In grasslands, there is very little aboveground perennial tissue so

945-825: The tenrecs of Madagascar , bats , and the solenodons . These include the Eurasian or common shrew ( Sorex araneus ) and the American vagrant shrew ( Sorex vagrans ) and northern short-tailed shrew ( Blarina brevicauda ). These shrews emit series of ultrasonic squeaks. By nature the shrew sounds, unlike those of bats, are low-amplitude, broadband, multiharmonic, and frequency modulated. They contain no "echolocation clicks" with reverberations and would seem to be used for simple, close-range spatial orientation. In contrast to bats, shrews use echolocation only to investigate their habitats rather than additionally to pinpoint food. Except for large and thus strongly reflecting objects, such as

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990-452: The accumulation of a thick litter layer, also known as a mor . Net primary production works inversely to this trend, suggesting that the accumulation of organic matter is mainly a result of decomposition rate. Surface detritus facilitates the capture and infiltration of rainwater into lower soil layers. The surface detritus also protects soil from excess drying and warming. Soil litter protects soil aggregates from raindrop impact, preventing

1035-479: The annual litterfall is very low and quite nearly equal to the net primary production. In soil science , soil litter is classified in three layers, which form on the surface of the O Horizon. These are the L, F, and H layers: The litter layer is quite variable in its thickness, decomposition rate and nutrient content and is affected in part by seasonality , plant species, climate, soil fertility, elevation, and latitude . The most extreme variability of litterfall

1080-419: The chewing molars at the back of the mouth, the teeth of shrews are small and peg-like, and may be reduced in number. The dental formula of shrews is: 3.1.1-3.3 1-2.0-1.1.3 Shrews are fiercely territorial, driving off rivals, and coming together only to mate. Many species dig burrows for catching food and hiding from predators , although this is not universal. Female shrews can have up to 10 litters

1125-483: The contents of the venom glands of the American short-tailed shrew are sufficient to kill 200 mice by intravenous injection. One chemical extracted from shrew venom may be potentially useful in the treatment of high blood pressure, while another compound may be useful in the treatment of some neuromuscular diseases and migraines . The saliva of the northern short-tailed shrew ( Blarina brevicauda ) contains soricidin ,

1170-517: The damp microclimate underneath fallen leaves for part or all of their life cycle. This makes them difficult to observe. A BBC film crew captured footage of a female caecilian with young for the first time in a documentary that aired in 2008. Some species of birds, such as the ovenbird of eastern North America for example, require leaf litter for both foraging and material for nests . Sometimes litterfall even provides energy to much larger mammals, such as in boreal forests where lichen litterfall

1215-409: The decline in nutrient ratios to the apparent nutrition availability of the forest. Once nutrients have re-entered the soil, the plants can then reabsorb them through their roots . Therefore, nutrient reabsorption during senescence presents an opportunity for a plant's future net primary production use. A relationship between nutrient stores can also be defined as: Non-terrestrial litterfall follows

1260-410: The depth of plant litter. Typically humid tropical and sub-tropical climates have reduced organic matter layers and horizons due to year-round decomposition and high vegetation density and growth. In temperate and cold climates, litter tends to accumulate and decompose slower due to a shorter growing season. Net primary production and litterfall are intimately connected. In every terrestrial ecosystem,

1305-577: The environment. The portion of the litter that is not readily decomposable is known as humus . Litter aids in soil moisture retention by cooling the ground surface and holding moisture in decaying organic matter. The flora and fauna working to decompose soil litter also aid in soil respiration . A litter layer of decomposing biomass provides a continuous energy source for macro- and micro-organisms. Numerous reptiles , amphibians , birds , and even some mammals rely on litter for shelter and forage. Amphibians such as salamanders and caecilians inhabit

1350-436: The family contains the extinct subfamilies Limnoecinae , Crocidosoricinae , Allosoricinae , and Heterosoricinae (although Heterosoricinae is also commonly considered a separate family). Leaf litter Litterfall is characterized as fresh, undecomposed, and easily recognizable (by species and type) plant debris. This can be anything from leaves, cones, needles, twigs, bark, seeds/nuts, logs, or reproductive organs (e.g.

1395-706: The forest floor are decomposers , such as fungi . Organisms whose diet consists of plant detritus, such as earthworms , are termed detritivores . The community of decomposers in the litter layer also includes bacteria , amoeba , nematodes , rotifer , tardigrades , springtails , cryptostigmata , potworms , insect larvae , mollusks , oribatid mites , woodlice , and millipedes . Even some species of microcrustaceans, especially copepods (for instance Bryocyclops spp ., Graeteriella spp. , Olmeccyclops hondo , Moraria spp ., Bryocamptus spp ., Atheyella spp . ) live in moist leaf litter habitats and play an important role as predators and decomposers. The consumption of

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1440-426: The largest fraction of all net primary production is lost to herbivores and litter fall. Due to their interconnectedness, global patterns of litterfall are similar to global patterns of net primary productivity. Plant litter, which can be made up of fallen leaves, twigs, seeds, flowers, and other woody debris, makes up a large portion of above ground net primary production of all terrestrial ecosystems. Fungus plays

1485-480: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pygmy_shrew&oldid=841378105 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Animal common name disambiguation pages Shrew Shrews ( family Soricidae ) are small mole -like mammals classified in

1530-399: The litter layer, accomplished through the leaching of nutrients by rainfall and throughfall and by the efforts of detritivores, releases the breakdown products into the soil below and therefore contributes to the cation exchange capacity of the soil. This holds especially true for highly weathered tropical soils. Decomposition rate is tied to the type of litterfall present. Leaching is

1575-465: The litterfall by decomposers results in the breakdown of simple carbon compounds into carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and water (H 2 O), and releases inorganic ions (like nitrogen and phosphorus ) into the soil where the surrounding plants can then reabsorb the nutrients that were shed as litterfall. In this way, litterfall becomes an important part of the nutrient cycle that sustains forest environments. As litter decomposes, nutrients are released into

1620-393: The mesh bags and placing them on the ground, an ecologist can monitor and collect the decay measurements of that litter. An exponential decay pattern has been produced by this type of experiment: X X o = e − k {\displaystyle {\frac {X}{X_{o}}}=e^{-k}} , where X o {\displaystyle X_{o}}

1665-455: The northern Andes . The shrew family has 385 known species, making it the fourth-most species-diverse mammal family. The only mammal families with more species are the muroid rodent families ( Muridae and Cricetidae ) and the bat family Vespertilionidae . All shrews are tiny, most no larger than a mouse. The largest species is the Asian house shrew ( Suncus murinus ) of tropical Asia, which

1710-508: The only significant macrofauna in this process, however Raw et al 2017 find Terebralia palustris competes with crabs unusually vigorously in southeast Asia . The main objectives of litterfall sampling and analysis are to quantify litterfall production and chemical composition over time in order to assess the variation in litterfall quantities, and hence its role in nutrient cycling across an environmental gradient of climate (moisture and temperature) and soil conditions. Ecologists employ

1755-403: The process by which cations such as iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al), as well as organic matter are removed from the litterfall and transported downward into the soil below. This process is known as podzolization and is particularly intense in boreal and cool temperate forests that are mainly constituted by coniferous pines whose litterfall is rich in phenolic compounds and fulvic acid . By

1800-404: The process of biological decomposition by microfauna , bacteria, and fungi, CO 2 and H 2 O, nutrient elements , and a decomposition-resistant organic substance called humus are released. Humus composes the bulk of organic matter in the lower soil profile. The decline of nutrient ratios is also a function of decomposition of litterfall (i.e. as litterfall decomposes, more nutrients enter

1845-484: The rate of decomposition of litter. These changes are being studied, but may have negative impacts on some inhabitants such as salamanders. Leaf litter accumulation depends on factors like wind, decomposition rate and species composition of the forest. The quantity, depth and humidity of leaf litter varies in different habitats. The leaf litter found in primary forests is more abundant, deeper and holds more humidity than in secondary forests. This condition also allows for

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1890-658: The release of clay and silt particles from plugging soil pores. Releasing clay and silt particles reduces the capacity for soil to absorb water and increases cross surface flow, accelerating soil erosion . In addition soil litter reduces wind erosion by preventing soil from losing moisture and providing cover preventing soil transportation. Organic matter accumulation also helps protect soils from wildfire damage. Soil litter can be completely removed depending on intensity and severity of wildfires and season. Regions with high frequency wildfires have reduced vegetation density and reduced soil litter accumulation. Climate also influences

1935-426: The size of bones, skull, and internal organs. Whereas rodents have gnawing incisors that grow throughout life, the teeth of shrews wear down throughout life, a problem made more extreme because they lose their milk teeth before birth, so have only one set of teeth throughout their lifetimes. In some species, exposed areas of the teeth are dark red due to the presence of iron in the tooth enamel. The iron reinforces

1980-441: The soil below and the litter will have a lower nutrient ratio). Litterfall containing high nutrient concentrations will decompose more rapidly and asymptote as those nutrients decrease. Knowing this, ecologists have been able to use nutrient concentrations as measured by remote sensing as an index of a potential rate of decomposition for any given area. Globally, data from various forest ecosystems shows an inverse relationship in

2025-401: The surfaces that are exposed to the most stress, which helps prolong the life of the teeth. This adaptation is not found in species with lower metabolism, which do not have to eat as much and therefore do not wear down the enamel to the same degree. The only other mammals' teeth with pigmented enamel are the incisors of rodents. Apart from the first pair of incisors, which are long and sharp, and

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