The irruptive population dynamics of rodents are a globally renowned wildlife phenomenon; however, the dynamics of other small mammals with which rodents are sympatric are poorly understood. Dryland Australia supports a high diversity of small (<200 g) arthropod‐eating marsupials (Dasyuridae). Here, we test the hypothesis that dasyurid marsupials do not exhibit the same degree of irruptive population dynamics that are shown by rodents. We addressed this question by sampling small mammal assemblages on 20 permanent trapping sites in the Simpson Desert on 20 occasions from 2007 to 2017. Sampling was stratified across three broad habitat types: sandridge, gibber plain and clay plain. We captured 478 dasyurid marsupials of nine species, ranging in mean body mass from 5.75 to 93.50 g, at a capture rate of 1.71 per 100 trap‐nights. Capture rate varied across habitat and over time and the interaction between these two effects was also significant. Capture rate was highest on clay plain (3.35 captures/100 trap‐nights), followed by gibber plain (2.16 captures/100 trap‐nights) and lowest on sand habitat (0.54 captures/100 trap‐nights). Each species had a clear preference for one of the dominant habitat types. Dasyurid assemblages responded to high rainfall pulses in November–December 2008 and January 2015; however, the largest rainfall period in 2010–2011 resulted in very low captures. Likewise, a peak in abundance occurred in April 2008 although it was not preceded by high rainfall. We conclude that, although dasyurid marsupial capture rates varied up to 34 fold during the study period, population changes are not strongly tied to rainfall. Heterothermic physiology in this family, in particular the ability to use daily torpor to save energy, may be central to the decoupling of population dynamics from rainfall‐driven primary productivity.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚旱地达苏里德有袋动物的种群动态：栖息地和时间的变化

啮齿动物的破坏性种群动态是全球知名的野生动物现象；然而，与啮齿动物同域的其他小型哺乳动物的动态知之甚少。澳大利亚旱地支持以节肢动物为食的小型（<200 克）有袋动物（Dasyuridae）的高度多样性。在这里，我们测试了以下假设，即 dasyurid 有袋动物不会表现出与啮齿动物相同程度的破坏性种群动态。从 2007 年到 2017 年，我们通过在辛普森沙漠的 20 个永久诱捕点对小型哺乳动物集合进行了 20 次采样来解决这个问题。采样分为三个广泛的栖息地类型：沙脊、吉伯平原和粘土平原。我们以每 100 个陷阱夜 1.71 个的捕获率捕获了 9 个物种的 478 只达苏里德有袋动物，平均体重从 5.75 到 93.50 克不等。捕获率因栖息地和时间而异，这两种影响之间的相互作用也很显着。粘土平原的捕获率最高（3.35 次捕获/100 个陷阱夜），其次是吉伯平原（2.16 次捕获/100 个陷阱夜），在沙地栖息地最低（0.54 次捕获/100 个陷阱夜）。每个物种对主要栖息地类型之一都有明显的偏好。Dasyurid 组合响应了 2008 年 11 月至 12 月和 2015 年 1 月的高降雨脉冲；然而，2010-2011 年的最大降雨期导致捕获量非常低。同样，丰度高峰出现在 2008 年 4 月，但之前并未出现大量降雨。我们得出的结论是，尽管在研究期间，达苏里德有袋动物的捕获率变化高达 34 倍，但人口变化与降雨量并没有密切关系。