Long-term survival, temperature, and torpor patterns

Publikationen als Autor:in / Herausgeber:in der Vetmeduni

Ruf, Thomas

Abstrakt

Mammalian and avian torpor is highly effective in reducing energy expenditure. However, the extent of energy savings achieved and thus long-term survival appear to differ between species capable of multiday hibernation and species restricted to daily heterothermy, which could, however, be due to thermal effects. We tested how long-term survival on stored body fat (i.e. time to lean body mass), crucial for overcoming adverse periods, is related to the pattern of torpor expressed under different ambient temperatures (T-a: 7 degrees C typical of hibernation, 15 and 22 degrees C typical of daily torpor) in the small marsupial hibernator the pygmy-possum (Cercartetus nanus). Possums expressed torpor at all T(a)s and survived without food for 310 days on average at T-a 7 degrees C, 195 days at T-a 15 degrees C, and 127 days at T-a 22 degrees C. At T-a 7 and 15 degrees C, torpor bout duration (TBD) increased from < 1-3 to similar to 5-16 days over 2 months, whereas at T-a 22 degrees C, TBD remained at < 1 to similar to 2 days. At all T(a)s daily energy use was substantially lower and TBD and survival times of possums much longer (3-12 months) than in daily heterotherms (similar to 10 days). Such pronounced differences in torpor patterns and survival times even under similar thermal conditions provide strong support for the concept that torpor in hibernators and daily heterotherms are physiologically distinct and have evolved for different ecological purposes.

Dokumententyp

Originalarbeit

Open Access Type

Gold

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-33646-6

PubMed ID

MEDLINE:37095170