TY - JOUR
T1 - Ambient temperature limits above-ground activity of the subterranean rodent Spalacopus cyanus
AU - Rezende, Enrico L.
AU - Cortés, Arturo
AU - Bacigalupe, Leonardo D.
AU - Nespolo, Roberto F.
AU - Bozinovic, Francisco
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank F. Jaksic, L.A Ebensperger, J.C. Opazo and P. Nicola for providing useful comments on an early version of the manuscript, and also for fieldwork assistance. C.D. Antinuchi provided us assistance on the methodology and software. R.F. Nespolo and L.D. Bacigalupe acknowledge a CONICYT and a DIPUC fellowship, respectively. This study was funded by FONDECYT 1010950 and by FONDAP 1501-0001 (program 1) to F. Bozinovic.
PY - 2003/9/1
Y1 - 2003/9/1
N2 - We studied daily activity patterns of the subterranean rodent Spalacopus cyanus, in the field during summer and winter, and under laboratory conditions at two different temperatures, 15°C and 30°C. This rodent exhibited nocturnal activity in the laboratory, but diurnal aboveground activity in the field. We suggest that this discrepancy between field and laboratory results is a consequence of differential space-use inside burrows during the day, and that low external ambient temperatures appear to constrain activity of S. cyanus outside their burrows during the night in summer and winter. In contrast, we hypothesize that high summer temperatures constrain above-ground activity at midday.
AB - We studied daily activity patterns of the subterranean rodent Spalacopus cyanus, in the field during summer and winter, and under laboratory conditions at two different temperatures, 15°C and 30°C. This rodent exhibited nocturnal activity in the laboratory, but diurnal aboveground activity in the field. We suggest that this discrepancy between field and laboratory results is a consequence of differential space-use inside burrows during the day, and that low external ambient temperatures appear to constrain activity of S. cyanus outside their burrows during the night in summer and winter. In contrast, we hypothesize that high summer temperatures constrain above-ground activity at midday.
KW - Ambient temperature
KW - Coruros
KW - Locomotor activity pattern
KW - Spalacopus cyanus
KW - Subterranean mode of life
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037663776&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0140-1963(02)00259-8
DO - 10.1016/S0140-1963(02)00259-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0037663776
VL - 55
SP - 63
EP - 74
JO - Journal of Arid Environments
JF - Journal of Arid Environments
SN - 0140-1963
IS - 1
ER -