Developmental environment influences activity levels in a montane rodent, Phyllotis xanthopygus.

RUPERTO E.F; TARABORELLI PAULA A; MENÉNDEZ J.; SASSI P L

ZOOLOGY

ELSEVIER GMBH

Año: 2020 vol. 142 p. 1 - 8

0944-2006

Ambient temperature and thermal variability play a crucial role in diverse aspects of organisms? biology. In thecurrent context of climate change, it is critical to understand how temperature impacts traits that could affectfitness. In Phyllotis xanthopygus, a small altricial rodent inhabiting an altitudinal gradient in the Andes Mountainsof Argentina, the behavioral response to temperature varies between populations from different altitudes.Animals from high altitude (cold environment) reduce their activity rate at high temperatures, in contrast toanimals from low altitude (relatively warmer environment). The goal of this study was to unveil the mechanismunderlying such intraspecific behavioral variability in P. xanthopygus. We characterized activity rates underdifferent thermal treatments both for wild-reared and lab-reared animals. As we expected, the intraspecificvariability shown by animals raised at different altitudes in the field disappeared in animals raised underhomogenous conditions in the laboratory. Our results are indicative of ontogenetic plasticity in P. xanthopygusand suggest that the behavioral versatility of adult individuals to deal with thermal challenges is shaped by therange of environmental conditions experienced during their early life. This adds to the list of features thatmodulate the biological performance of individuals and could influence the relative vulnerability of populationsinhabiting different elevations under the global disturbance of climate change.