Macrophysiological Patterns in the Energetics of Caviomorph Rodents: Implications in a Warming World

LUNA F; BOZINOVIC F; ANTENUCCI CD

The Biology of Caviomorph Rodents: Diversity and Evolution

Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos

Año: 2015; p. 245 - 272

In this article we review literature-based data on energy metabolism of Caviomorphs species in a changing world. We tested for the effect of body mass and geo-climatic factors (latitude, altitude, ambient temperature, precipitation) on Caviomorph´s comparative energetic diversity. We analyzethe relationship between changes in basal metabolic rate (BMR) and thermal conductance (Cmin) by using conventional statistics and phylogenetic informed analyses. As this group is so diverse in terms of, for instance habitat use, and distribution, we were not able to find any exogenous factor affecting energy metabolism and thermal conductance. Moreover, as the variance of BMR (~96 %) or Cmin (~85 %) is explained almost by body mass, it is comprehensible that it is not easy to correlate the residual percentage with geographical or climatic variables. We further discuss the effect of diet (quality, availability, predictability) on Caviomorph energetics. As we performed an interspecific analysis (macroevolutive) to test for correlations between metabolic variables and geo-climatic traits, we didn?t take into account the individual and/or population variability -, then we discus about the proximate factors (i.e. ambient temperature, diet) responsible for differences in the rate of metabolism and thermal conductance and their underlying mechanism in species belonging to this group. Furthermore, we also analyze the cost of different behaviors and activities that influencetheir lifestyles. We believe that there is valuable non-basal energetic information available that could be used to understand the whole picture of energy metabolism and thermal biology among Caviomorph rodents. We conclude that we are far from a complete understanding of the effect of global change on Caviomorph rodents, however this review is an endeavor in this sense. Searching for patterns of inter as well as intraspecific physiologic diversity in endotherms is an effort to understand and to predict the scope of global changes.