Temperature Sensitive Telemetry Applied to Studies of Small Mammal Activity Patterns

Author(s):  
D.W. OSGOOD
2008 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris R. Pavey ◽  
Fritz Geiser

Several mammal species bask to passively rewarm during arousal from torpor, a strategy that can decrease energetic costs. Nothing is known about basking behaviour in these species or the trade-offs between energetic benefits of basking and potential costs associated with changes in activity patterns and increased predation risk. We assessed basking during winter in Pseudantechinus macdonnellensis, an Australian arid-zone marsupial that belongs to a family (Dasyuridae) that is typically nocturnal. Animals were implanted with temperature-sensitive transmitters to assess body temperatures and to assist in visually locating animals active during the day. Tagged animals regularly exhibited diurnal foraging. Foraging bouts occurred throughout the day; however, most bouts were observed within 3 h of sunset. By comparison, basking occurred much more frequently in the morning. Basking and a shift towards diurnal foraging in winter is associated with a decrease in richness and abundance of predators. P. macdonnellensis appears to compensate for the occurrence of torpor during the active phase (i.e. night) in winter by changing activity patterns such that foraging commences during what is usually the rest phase. These activity patterns are not expected to occur during the remainder of the year.


2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (11) ◽  
pp. 1896-1901 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Laine Cotton ◽  
Katherine L Parker

We described autumn-winter activity patterns of northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) in northwestern British Columbia during 1996-1997 and 1997-1998. Nineteen flying squirrels (12 males and 7 females) were fitted with temperature-sensitive radio collars. We located animals in 82 daytime nests using radiotelemetry techniques and monitored 268 nights of activity using data-logging receivers placed at the base of nest trees. The average temperature of the animals, as determined by the collar sensors while the animals were in nests, was 39.2 ± 0.1°C, with no significant differences among animals, tree species, or tree sizes. Activity periods in a mild field season followed a dusk- and dawn-activity pattern, but activities in harsh winter conditions shifted towards a shorter single activity bout or two very short activity bouts in the middle of the night. No long activity bouts (>1.9 h) were observed at temperatures below -20°C. This reduction in time spent active and adjustment of the timing of activity during extremely low temperatures likely serve as an energy-conservation strategy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 20170036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Stawski ◽  
Taylor Hume ◽  
Gerhard Körtner ◽  
Shannon E. Currie ◽  
Julia Nowack ◽  
...  

To cope with the post-fire challenges of decreased availability of food and shelter, brown antechinus ( Antechinus stuartii ), a small marsupial mammal, increase the use of energy-conserving torpor and reduce activity. However, it is not known how long it takes for animals to resume pre-fire torpor and activity patterns during the recovery of burnt habitat. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that antechinus will adjust torpor use and activity after a fire depending on vegetation recovery. We simultaneously quantified torpor and activity patterns for female antechinus from three adjacent areas: (i) the area of a management burn 1 year post-fire, (ii) an area that was burned 2 years prior, and (iii) a control area. In comparison to shortly after the management burn, antechinus in all three groups displayed less frequent and less pronounced torpor while being more active. We provide the first evidence that only 1 year post-fire antechinus resume pre-fire torpor and activity patterns, probably in response to the return of herbaceous ground cover and foraging opportunities.


2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 461 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. H. Brice ◽  
G. C. Grigg ◽  
L. A. Beard ◽  
J. A. Donovan

Echidnas occur throughout Australia. They exhibit daily fluctuations in body temperature (Tb) and use torpor to various degrees throughout much of their range. Echidnas elsewhere are commonly diurnal except during hot weather. This study used temperature-sensitive radio-transmitters to investigate the activity patterns and temperature relations of echidnas in the relatively hot, dry climate of south-west Queensland with respect to temperature and photoperiod. During activity, echidnas were characterised by rising, but not necessarily high, Tbs. Activity was seen only within an ambient temperature range (as measured in a nearby Stevenson Screen: Tss) of 9–33�C so that activity was seen during the day and at night during the cool weather but only at night in summer. Echidnas used caves, burrows and logs when inactive. Tbs of inactive echidnas declined except when affected by rising ambient temperatures, as determined within these shelters (Ta). In summer, Tbs of echidnas in these shelters changed little or rose with increasing Ta to levels even higher than in active echidnas.Torpor was used by echidnas for periods up to nine days during winter and occasionally for up to one day during summer. Due to the difficulty of identifying the occurrence of torpor from Tb alone in warm conditions, the possibility that echidnas utilise torpor for less than one day remains inconclusive. Nevertheless, at least five bouts of torpor were identified in four (of eight) echidnas during winter/spring and two bouts of torpor from two echidnas in summer.


Mammalia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Silva Ferreira ◽  
Marcus Vinícius Vieira

AbstractWe propose a simple, accurate, and inexpensive timing device to record the activity patterns of small mammals in the field using live traps. The present timing device can be used in cage-type live traps. It is built from commercially available components and does not require special skills to construct. The device is set outside the trap and does not need to be permanently affixed or require drill perforations, as others devices do. This device is easily incorporated into long-term monitoring studies to provide temporal information about small mammal populations without affecting their behavior.


Author(s):  
A. E. Vatter ◽  
J. Zambernard

Oncogenic viruses, like viruses in general, can be divided into two classes, those that contain deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and those that contain ribonucleic acid (RNA). The RNA viruses have been recovered readily from the tumors which they cause whereas, the DNA-virus induced tumors have not yielded the virus. Since DNA viruses cannot be recovered, the bulk of present day investigations have been concerned with RNA viruses.The Lucké renal adenocarcinoma is a spontaneous tumor which occurs in northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) and has received increased attention in recent years because of its probable viral etiology. This hypothesis was first advanced by Lucké after he observed intranuclear inclusions in some of the tumor cells. Tumors with inclusions were examined at the fine structural level by Fawcett who showed that they contained immature and mature virus˗like particles.The use of this system in the study of oncogenic tumors offers several unique features, the virus has been shown to contain DNA and it can be recovered from the tumor, also, it is temperature sensitive. This latter feature is of importance because the virus can be transformed from a latent to a vegetative state by lowering or elevating the environmental temperature.


Author(s):  
G. Jacobs ◽  
F. Theunissen

In order to understand how the algorithms underlying neural computation are implemented within any neural system, it is necessary to understand details of the anatomy, physiology and global organization of the neurons from which the system is constructed. Information is represented in neural systems by patterns of activity that vary in both their spatial extent and in the time domain. One of the great challenges to microscopists is to devise methods for imaging these patterns of activity and to correlate them with the underlying neuroanatomy and physiology. We have addressed this problem by using a combination of three dimensional reconstruction techniques, quantitative analysis and computer visualization techniques to build a probabilistic atlas of a neural map in an insect sensory system. The principal goal of this study was to derive a quantitative representation of the map, based on a uniform sample of afferents that was of sufficient size to allow statistically meaningful analyses of the relationships between structure and function.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-201
Author(s):  
Melanie M. van der Ploeg ◽  
Jos F. Brosschot ◽  
Markus Quirin ◽  
Richard D. Lane ◽  
Bart Verkuil

Abstract. Stress-related stimuli may be presented outside of awareness and may ultimately influence health by causing repetitive increases in physiological parameters, such as blood pressure (BP). In this study, we aimed to corroborate previous studies that demonstrated BP effects of subliminally presented stress-related stimuli. This would add evidence to the hypothesis that unconscious manifestations of stress can affect somatic health. Additionally, we suggest that these findings may be extended by measuring affective changes relating to these physiological changes, using measures for self-reported and implicit positive and negative affectivity. Using a repeated measures between-subject design, we presented either the prime word “angry” ( n = 26) or “relax” ( n = 28) subliminally (17 ms) for 100 trials to a student sample and measured systolic and diastolic BP, heart rate (HR), and affect. The “angry” prime, compared to the “relax” prime, did not affect any of the outcome variables. During the priming task, a higher level of implicit negative affect (INA) was associated with a lower systolic BP and diastolic BP. No association was found with HR. Self-reported affect and implicit positive affect were not related to the cardiovascular (CV) activity. In sum, anger and relax primes elicited similar CV activity patterns, but implicit measures of affect may provide a new method to examine the relationship between (unconscious) stress and health.


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