Chronobiology of subterranean rodents

ODA GA; VALENTINUZZI VS

Mar del Plata

Workshop; 5to Workshop de Fisiología Ecológica y del Comportamiento: 10 años, desde los Andes al Atlántico; 2023

Chronobiology is the study of the temporal organization of living beings, which manifest through biological rhythms synchronized by environmental cycles. The light / dark cycle of the Earth is the main synchronizer of 24h rhythms for most species. The subterranean represents an extreme photic environment where there is no light and temperature varies less than on the surface, being ideal to explore the persistence of biological rhythms and their synchronization. Using a set of biologgers, we unveiled in the eld the daily organization of activity/rest, body temperature and light exposure patterns of tuco-tucos (Ctenomys famosus), subterranean rodents endemic to South America. Using traditional ecophysiological approaches, we conrmed the role of environmental temperature in shaping the seasonal variation of daily surface activity in individual tuco-tucos. On the other hand, chronobiological approaches added new insights into the endogenous components of these seasonal patterns and how they impacted on the daily light exposure of tuco-tucos, allowing a subterranean animal to discriminate summer long-days from winter short-days and synchronizing their annual biological rhythms. This is a special opportunity to integrate endogenous rhythmicity, photic entrainment and ecophysiological approaches in lab and eld studies to understand seasonal activity patterns in the wild. (FAPESP, CONICET).