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Broggi J, Hohtola E, Koivula K, Rytkönen S, Nilsson JÅ. Prehatching temperatures drive inter-annual cohort differences in great tit metabolism. Oecologia 2022; 198:619-627. [PMID: 35174406 PMCID: PMC8956552 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-022-05126-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Basal metabolic rate (BMR) constitutes the lowest metabolic rate in a resting animal and is, therefore, considered to reflect the energetic cost of maintenance in endotherms. BMR is a reversible plastic trait that changes with environmental and ecological circumstances, albeit being heritable and susceptible to selection. Inter-individual variation within populations of small birds is substantial, and while many of the drivers of such variation have been identified, many remain unexplained. We studied winter BMR variation of juveniles over a 15-year period in a wild population of great tits Parus major at the northern border of their distribution. BMR during winter consistently changed between years, even after controlling for environmental factors, suggestive of a non-reversible developmental plasticity shaping the adult metabolic phenotype. BMR in cohorts of wintering great tits varied among winters as a response to minimum ambient temperatures experienced early in life, during the prehatching period. This developmental plasticity might be adaptive if temperatures experienced by growing embryos would metabolically prime them to an environment that they will likely encounter in future life. However, in line with a more unpredictable future climate, the risk of phenotype-environment mismatch is likely to lead to certain cohorts being poorly adapted to prevailing winter conditions, resulting in wider annual fluctuations in population size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juli Broggi
- Department of Biology, Section of Evolutionary Ecology, University of Lund, 223 62, Lund, Sweden.
- Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), Av. Américo Vespucio 26, 41092, Sevilla, Spain.
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales - CSIC, C/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Esa Hohtola
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 8000, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland
| | - Kari Koivula
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 8000, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland
| | - Seppo Rytkönen
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 8000, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland
| | - Jan-Åke Nilsson
- Department of Biology, Section of Evolutionary Ecology, University of Lund, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
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Bushuev A, Zubkova E, Tolstenkov O, Kerimov A. Basal metabolic rate in free-ranging tropical birds lacks long-term repeatability and is influenced by ambient temperature. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART 2021; 335:668-677. [PMID: 34358408 DOI: 10.1002/jez.2532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2020] [Revised: 07/11/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Tropical birds live longer, have smaller clutches and invest more resources into self-maintenance than temperate species. These "slow" life-histories in tropical birds are accompanied by low basal metabolic rate (BMR). It has recently been suggested that the low BMR of tropical species may be related not to their slow "pace of life" or high ambient temperatures (Ta ) in tropical latitudes, but to the stability of environmental conditions in tropics. Since the repeatability of metabolic traits is higher in stable environments, such as laboratory conditions, we predicted that long-term repeatability of BMR in a tropical climate should be higher than in a temperate one. Contrary to our predictions, the repeatability of mass-independent BMR in 64 individuals of free-living tropical birds from Vietnam was low and insignificant after the species affiliation was taken into account. It indicates that BMR cannot be used as an individual long-term characteristic of tropical birds. On the other hand, tropical birds showed consistent differences in their mass-independent BMR at the interspecific level. Using BMR measurements from 1543 individuals of 134 species, we also found that different characteristics of Ta within the week preceding BMR measurements had a significant impact on the mass-independent BMR of tropical birds. The most significant effect was the difference between the absolute maximum and minimum Ta within a single week. Our results indicate that the physiology of tropical birds is more subject to changes than would be expected based on the notion of the stability of climatic conditions in the tropics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrey Bushuev
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.,Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technological Center, Hanoi, Vietnam.,A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Ekaterina Zubkova
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.,Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technological Center, Hanoi, Vietnam.,A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Oleg Tolstenkov
- Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technological Center, Hanoi, Vietnam.,A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Anvar Kerimov
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.,Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technological Center, Hanoi, Vietnam.,A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
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Norin T, Metcalfe NB. Ecological and evolutionary consequences of metabolic rate plasticity in response to environmental change. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 374:20180180. [PMID: 30966964 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Basal or standard metabolic rate reflects the minimum amount of energy required to maintain body processes, while the maximum metabolic rate sets the ceiling for aerobic work. There is typically up to three-fold intraspecific variation in both minimal and maximal rates of metabolism, even after controlling for size, sex and age; these differences are consistent over time within a given context, but both minimal and maximal metabolic rates are plastic and can vary in response to changing environments. Here we explore the causes of intraspecific and phenotypic variation at the organ, tissue and mitochondrial levels. We highlight the growing evidence that individuals differ predictably in the flexibility of their metabolic rates and in the extent to which they can suppress minimal metabolism when food is limiting but increase the capacity for aerobic metabolism when a high work rate is beneficial. It is unclear why this intraspecific variation in metabolic flexibility persists-possibly because of trade-offs with the flexibility of other traits-but it has consequences for the ability of populations to respond to a changing world. It is clear that metabolic rates are targets of selection, but more research is needed on the fitness consequences of rates of metabolism and their plasticity at different life stages, especially in natural conditions. This article is part of the theme issue 'The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tommy Norin
- 1 Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, MVLS, University of Glasgow , Graham Kerr Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ , UK.,2 DTU Aqua: National Institute of Aquatic Resources , Kemitorvet Building 202, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby , Denmark
| | - Neil B Metcalfe
- 1 Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, MVLS, University of Glasgow , Graham Kerr Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ , UK
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Broggi J, Nilsson JF, Koivula K, Hohtola E, Nilsson JÅ. Mass or pace? Seasonal energy management in wintering boreal passerines. Oecologia 2019; 189:339-351. [PMID: 30617630 PMCID: PMC6394691 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-018-04332-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2018] [Accepted: 12/20/2018] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Research on winter energy management in small vertebrates has focused on the regulation of body mass (BM) within a framework of starvation-predation trade-off. Winter-acclimatized birds exhibit a seasonal increase in both BM and basal metabolic rate (BMR), although the patterns of co-variation between the two traits remain unknown. We studied this co-variation in three different species of wild titmice, great, blue and willow tits, originating from two boreal regions at different latitudes. Seasonal change in BM and BMR was inter-dependent, particularly in the great tit; however, by contrast, no seasonal change was observed in the willow tit. BMR changed non-linearly in concert with BM with a peak in midwinter for both blue and great tits, whereas such non-linear pattern in willow tit was opposite and independent of BM. Surprisingly, BMR appears to be more sensitive to ambient temperatures than BM in all three species studied. Energy management is a multifaceted strategy that cannot be fully understood without considering reserve levels and energy expenditure simultaneously. Thus, our study indicates that the prevailing conceptual framework based on variation in BM alone is insufficient to understand seasonal energy management in small wintering passerines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juli Broggi
- Section of Evolutionary Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Lund, 223 62, Lund, Sweden. .,Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), Av. Americo Vespucio 26, 41092, Seville, Spain.
| | - Johan F Nilsson
- Section of Evolutionary Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Lund, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
| | - Kari Koivula
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
| | - Esa Hohtola
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
| | - Jan-Åke Nilsson
- Section of Evolutionary Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Lund, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
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Latimer CE, Cooper SJ, Karasov WH, Zuckerberg B. Does habitat fragmentation promote climate-resilient phenotypes? OIKOS 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.05111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christopher E. Latimer
- Dept of Forest and Wildlife Ecology; Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison; 226 Russell Labs 1630 Linden Drive Madison WI 53706 USA
| | | | - William H. Karasov
- Dept of Forest and Wildlife Ecology; Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison; 226 Russell Labs 1630 Linden Drive Madison WI 53706 USA
| | - Benjamin Zuckerberg
- Dept of Forest and Wildlife Ecology; Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison; 226 Russell Labs 1630 Linden Drive Madison WI 53706 USA
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Petit M, Clavijo-Baquet S, Vézina F. Increasing Winter Maximal Metabolic Rate Improves Intrawinter Survival in Small Birds. Physiol Biochem Zool 2017; 90:166-177. [DOI: 10.1086/689274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Boratyński JS, Jefimow M, Wojciechowski MS. Individual Differences in the Phenotypic Flexibility of Basal Metabolic Rate in Siberian Hamsters Are Consistent on Short- and Long-Term Timescales. Physiol Biochem Zool 2016; 90:139-152. [PMID: 28277958 DOI: 10.1086/689870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Basal metabolic rate (BMR) correlates with the cost of life in endothermic animals. It usually differs consistently among individuals in a population, but it may be adjusted in response to predictable or unpredictable changes in the environment. The phenotypic flexibility of BMR is considered an adaptation to living in a stochastic environment; however, whether it is also repeatable it is still unexplored. Assuming that variations in phenotypic flexibility are evolutionarily important, we hypothesized that they are consistently different among individuals. We predicted that not only BMR but also its flexibility in response to changes in ambient temperature (Ta) are repeatable on short- and long-term timescales. To examine this, we acclimated Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) for 100 d to winterlike and then to summerlike conditions, and after each acclimation we exposed them interchangeably to 10° and 28°C for 14 d. The difference in BMR measured after each exposure defined an individual's phenotypic flexibility (ΔBMR). BMR was repeatable within and among seasons. It was also flexible in both seasons, but in winter this flexibility was lower in individuals responding to seasonal changes than in nonresponding ones. When we accounted for individual responsiveness, the repeatability of ΔBMR was significant in winter (τ = 0.48, P = 0.01) and in summer (τ = 0.55, P = 0.005). Finally, the flexibility of BMR in response to changes in Ta was also repeatable on a long-term timescale, that is, among seasons (τ = 0.31, P = 0.008). Our results indicate the evolutionary importance of the phenotypic flexibility of energy metabolism and suggest that it may be subject to selection.
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Flexibility in metabolic rate and activity level determines individual variation in overwinter performance. Oecologia 2016; 182:703-12. [PMID: 27461377 PMCID: PMC5043002 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-016-3697-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2016] [Accepted: 07/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Energy stores are essential for the overwinter survival of many temperate and polar animals, but individuals within a species often differ in how quickly they deplete their reserves. These disparities in overwinter performance may be explained by differences in their physiological and behavioral flexibility in response to food scarcity. However, little is known about whether individuals exhibit correlated or independent changes in these traits, and how these phenotypic changes collectively affect their winter energy use. We examined individual flexibility in both standard metabolic rate and activity level in response to food scarcity and their combined consequences for depletion of lipid stores among overwintering brown trout (Salmo trutta). Metabolism and activity tended to decrease, yet individuals exhibited striking differences in their physiological and behavioral flexibility. The rate of lipid depletion was negatively related to decreases in both metabolic and activity rates, with the smallest lipid loss over the simulated winter period occurring in individuals that had the greatest reductions in metabolism and/or activity. However, changes in metabolism and activity were negatively correlated; those individuals that decreased their SMR to a greater extent tended to increase their activity rates, and vice versa, suggesting among-individual variation in strategies for coping with food scarcity.
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Petit M, Vézina F. Reaction norms in natural conditions: how does metabolic performance respond to weather variations in a small endotherm facing cold environments? PLoS One 2014; 9:e113617. [PMID: 25426860 PMCID: PMC4245212 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2014] [Accepted: 10/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Reaction norms reflect an organisms' capacity to adjust its phenotype to the environment and allows for identifying trait values associated with physiological limits. However, reaction norms of physiological parameters are mostly unknown for endotherms living in natural conditions. Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) increase their metabolic performance during winter acclimatization and are thus good model to measure reaction norms in the wild. We repeatedly measured basal (BMR) and summit (Msum) metabolism in chickadees to characterize, for the first time in a free-living endotherm, reaction norms of these parameters across the natural range of weather variation. BMR varied between individuals and was weakly and negatively related to minimal temperature. Msum varied with minimal temperature following a Z-shape curve, increasing linearly between 24°C and −10°C, and changed with absolute humidity following a U-shape relationship. These results suggest that thermal exchanges with the environment have minimal effects on maintenance costs, which may be individual-dependent, while thermogenic capacity is responding to body heat loss. Our results suggest also that BMR and Msum respond to different and likely independent constraints.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magali Petit
- Département de Biologie, chimie et géographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski (Québec), G5L 3A1, Canada
- Groupe de recherche sur les environnements nordiques BOREAS, Rimouski (Québec), Canada
- Centre d'Etudes Nordiques, Québec (Québec), Canada
- Centre de la Science de la Biodiversité du Québec, Montréal (Québec), Canada
- * E-mail:
| | - François Vézina
- Département de Biologie, chimie et géographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski (Québec), G5L 3A1, Canada
- Groupe de recherche sur les environnements nordiques BOREAS, Rimouski (Québec), Canada
- Centre d'Etudes Nordiques, Québec (Québec), Canada
- Centre de la Science de la Biodiversité du Québec, Montréal (Québec), Canada
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