Mammals in MZNA-VERT: biology of Arvicola sapidus in Navarra. PhD project, Juan Manuel Garde

MZNA Museum of Zoology1, Nora Escribano2, Juan Manuel Garde3, David Galicia2, Arturo H. Ariño2, Carmen Escala2, Ángel Chaves2, María Imas2, Ana Amézcua2

1 University of Navarra, Irunlarrea 1, 31008, Pamplona, Spain; 2 University of Navarra, Irunlarrea, 1, 31008, Pamplona, Spain; 3 , Spain

Corresponding author(s): MZNA Museum of Zoology (museocc@unav.es), Nora Escribano (nescribano@alumni.unav.es)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

MZNA (2016): Mammals in MZNA-VERT: biology of Arvicola sapidus in Navarra. PhD project, Juan Manuel Garde. v1. University of Navarra, Museum of Zoology. Dataset/Occurrence. http://www.gbif.es/ipt/resource?r=mzna_vert_mast_arsa&amp;v=1.0 http://doi.org/10.15470/zqgojj

Abstract

This dataset contains information of 421 records of Arvicola sapidus and records of other small mammals distributed in Ribera Alta (Navarra, Spain). All specimens were collected for studying the biology of A.sapidus. The collection includes skeletons, skins and in some cases, tissues from this specie. There are included also skulls and skins from few other species of small mammals trapped during the surveys.
The data set is available in GBIF.

Keywords: Water vole, south Navarra, traps, rodentia, Specimen, Occurrence

General description

Purpose: The aim of the present data set is to provide all information collected under the study of the biology of the water vole done by Juan Manuel Garde and stored in MZNA facilities.
Additional information: The Museum of Zoology (MZNA) was founded in 1980 as a repository of zoological materials originating from research and instructional activities of the department of Environmental Biology (proviously known as the department of Zoology and Ecology) of the University of Navarra. Nowadays MZNA store more than two millions specimens in its climate-controlled facilities.
The Museum is a Data Provider for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and is an Affiliate to the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). The Museum is also in charge of the curation and management of the Natural History Collections of the School of Science of the University of Navarra (Spain). MZNA attends to reserchers around the world, make loans and accepts deposits.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=mzna_vert_mast_arsa

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: The collection includes records of 6 species belonging to Rodentia and Soricomorpha orders but it is mainly composed of specimens of A.sapidus (Cricetidae, Rodentia).
Taxonomic ranks
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia, Soricomorpha
Family: Cricetidae, Muridae, Soricidae
Genus: Apodemus, Arvicola, Crocidura, Microtus, Mus, Rattus
Species: Apodemus sylvaticus, Arvicola sp, Arvicola sapidus, Crocidura russula, Microtus sp, Mus spretus, Rattus norvegicus, Rattus rattus

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: All specimens were sampled in Ribera Alta de Navarra (Spain), mainly in the Aragón’s river bank as it passes through the locality of Mélida (Navarra).
Coordinates: 42°0'36''N and 42°23'24''N Latitude; 1°42'36''W and 1°25'48''W Longitude 

Natural collections description

Parent collection identifier: http://www.gbif.es/ic_colecciones.php?ID_Coleccion=10169
Collection name: Biología de la rata de agua (Arvicola sapidus) en Navarra
Living time period: 1983-1992
Specimen preservation method: Dried
Specimen preservation method: Alcohol
Specimen preservation method: Mounted
Curatorial unit: 445 with an uncertainty of 1 (zip plastic bags)
Curatorial unit: 156 with an uncertainty of 1 (tissues in ETOH)
Curatorial unit: 366 with an uncertainty of 1 (skins on cardboards)

Methods

Method step description: Specimens of A.sapidus were dissected in laboratory conserving skin, skull, fore and hind limbs and some tissues (crystallines, testicles, ovaries and smear from testicles). First, skin was removed, cleaned with soap and dried using sodium borate. Then, each skin was mounted on a cardboard and stored.
Secondly, each specimen was dissected separating skull, limbs and tissues previously listed. Skeletons parts were boiled and then, flesh was separated from them. Tissues were conserved in alcohol (ETOH).
Biometric data were also taken from most of specimens of water vole. Measures were taken following rules from Comisión de Biometría (1972).
Skulls from the other species were prepared following the same protocol than in the case of A.sapidus.
Information of each specimen was incorporated to MZNA database (Zootron v4.5, Ariño 1991).
Study extent description: Ribera Alta is a geographic area located in the south of Navarra dominated by an agricultural landscape mixed with natural vegetation coverage consisting mainly on mediterranean scrubs patches and black pine repopulations (Rivas-Martínez, 1987).
Surveys took place at Aragón’s riverbank as it passes through Mélida. It is a riparian forest formed by elms, black plopars (Populus nigra), ashes (Fraxinus angustifolia) and willow trees. Reed beds are also important as they constitute shelter and source of food for the water vole.
Sampling description: Main sampling effort was conducted from October 1984 to December 1986 mainly once or twice a month. Five sampling sites were selected but most of the material comes from Mélida, specifically from riparian forest of Aragón river.
Traps were placed in areas were activity of A.sapidus was observed (e.g. scats). These areas were commonly tracks used by this specie. Each trapping event last one day and traps were checked twice a day: at dawn and twilight. Traps were not baited to avoid attracting other species.
All specimens captured were brought to the laboratory for further studies.
Quality control description: All specimens are deposited in the Museum of Zoology of the University of Navarra (MZNA, Pamplona, Spain) in the ‘Biology of Arvicola sapidus in Navarra’.
All specimens of A.sapidus were sexed and identified in by Juan Manuel Garde. Other small mammals captured during the sampling were transported as well to laboratory and identified using suitable literature (Gosálbez 1987). Scientific names have been validated according to Mammal Species of the World (Wilson and Reeder 2005, Palomo et al. 2007). Unique catalogue numbers were assigned to each specimen.
Coordinates in UTM/MGRS were transformed to geographic system. The consistency of all records was checked by visual inspection overlapping coordinates with a map of Navarra using GIS (Chapman 2005) and their uncertainty was calculated in metres using the point-radius method.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Mammals in MZNA-VERT: biology of Arvicola sapidus in Navarra. PhD project, Juan Manuel Garde
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.gbif.es/archive.do?r=mzna_vert_mast_arsa
Publication date of data: 2021-12-17
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2016-03-03
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Ariño AH (1991) Bibliography of Iberian Polychaetes: a data base. Ophelia, suppl. 5: 647–652.
Chapman, A. D. (2005). Principles and methods of data cleaning (p. 72). Copenhagen.
Gosálbez, J., 1987. Insectivors i rosegadors de Catalunya. Ketres, Barcelona. 241 pp.
Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed). Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (editors).Johns Hopkins University Press, 2,142 pp
Rivas-Martínez, S. (1987). Memoria del mapa de series de vegetación de España (1:400000). Madrid: ICONA.
Comisión de Biometría (1972). Primer coloquio de Mastozoología Ibérica. Jaca