Light loggers reveal weather-driven changes in the daily activity patterns of arboreal and semifossorial rodents
Measuring daily and seasonal patterns of activity is useful for understanding the ecological and evolutionary drivers of behavior. We used collar-mounted light loggers to examine how nest attendance in arboreal squirrels and aboveground activity in semifossorial ground squirrels are affected by weat...
Published in: | Journal of Mammalogy |
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Oxford University Press
2014
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jmammal:95/6/1230 2023-05-15T14:57:54+02:00 Light loggers reveal weather-driven changes in the daily activity patterns of arboreal and semifossorial rodents Williams, Cory T. Wilsterman, Kathryn Kelley, Amanda D. Breton, André R. Stark, Herbert Humphries, Murray M. McAdam, Andrew G. Barnes, Brian M. Boutin, Stan Buck, C. Loren 2014-12-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/95/6/1230 https://doi.org/10.1644/14-MAMM-A-062 en eng Oxford University Press http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/95/6/1230 http://dx.doi.org/10.1644/14-MAMM-A-062 Copyright (C) 2014, Oxford University Press Feature Articles TEXT 2014 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1644/14-MAMM-A-062 2016-11-16T19:07:07Z Measuring daily and seasonal patterns of activity is useful for understanding the ecological and evolutionary drivers of behavior. We used collar-mounted light loggers to examine how nest attendance in arboreal squirrels and aboveground activity in semifossorial ground squirrels are affected by weather-driven changes in thermoregulatory conditions. Activity of lactating red squirrels ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ) had a diurnal pattern showing 3 daily peaks of activity with time spent outside the nest increasing with increasing ambient temperature, but decreasing with increasing relative humidity and wind. Despite the persistence of daylight during midsummer in the arctic environment, female arctic ground squirrels ( Urocitellus parryii ) also exhibited diurnal activity patterns with time spent above ground each day decreasing in response to precipitation but increasing with increasing ambient temperature and incident solar radiation. On cooler days, ground squirrels exhibited a unimodal activity pattern. However, on warm days, ground squirrels spent less time above ground when solar radiation and ambient temperature were both at their daily maxima, which resulted in a bimodal activity pattern. Our results highlight the utility of light loggers as a cost-effective means of addressing questions related to foraging behavior, parental care, thermoregulation, energetics, and timing of activity in arboreal and semifossorial small mammals. Text Arctic Urocitellus parryii HighWire Press (Stanford University) Arctic Journal of Mammalogy 95 6 1230 1239 |
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English |
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Feature Articles |
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Feature Articles Williams, Cory T. Wilsterman, Kathryn Kelley, Amanda D. Breton, André R. Stark, Herbert Humphries, Murray M. McAdam, Andrew G. Barnes, Brian M. Boutin, Stan Buck, C. Loren Light loggers reveal weather-driven changes in the daily activity patterns of arboreal and semifossorial rodents |
topic_facet |
Feature Articles |
description |
Measuring daily and seasonal patterns of activity is useful for understanding the ecological and evolutionary drivers of behavior. We used collar-mounted light loggers to examine how nest attendance in arboreal squirrels and aboveground activity in semifossorial ground squirrels are affected by weather-driven changes in thermoregulatory conditions. Activity of lactating red squirrels ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ) had a diurnal pattern showing 3 daily peaks of activity with time spent outside the nest increasing with increasing ambient temperature, but decreasing with increasing relative humidity and wind. Despite the persistence of daylight during midsummer in the arctic environment, female arctic ground squirrels ( Urocitellus parryii ) also exhibited diurnal activity patterns with time spent above ground each day decreasing in response to precipitation but increasing with increasing ambient temperature and incident solar radiation. On cooler days, ground squirrels exhibited a unimodal activity pattern. However, on warm days, ground squirrels spent less time above ground when solar radiation and ambient temperature were both at their daily maxima, which resulted in a bimodal activity pattern. Our results highlight the utility of light loggers as a cost-effective means of addressing questions related to foraging behavior, parental care, thermoregulation, energetics, and timing of activity in arboreal and semifossorial small mammals. |
format |
Text |
author |
Williams, Cory T. Wilsterman, Kathryn Kelley, Amanda D. Breton, André R. Stark, Herbert Humphries, Murray M. McAdam, Andrew G. Barnes, Brian M. Boutin, Stan Buck, C. Loren |
author_facet |
Williams, Cory T. Wilsterman, Kathryn Kelley, Amanda D. Breton, André R. Stark, Herbert Humphries, Murray M. McAdam, Andrew G. Barnes, Brian M. Boutin, Stan Buck, C. Loren |
author_sort |
Williams, Cory T. |
title |
Light loggers reveal weather-driven changes in the daily activity patterns of arboreal and semifossorial rodents |
title_short |
Light loggers reveal weather-driven changes in the daily activity patterns of arboreal and semifossorial rodents |
title_full |
Light loggers reveal weather-driven changes in the daily activity patterns of arboreal and semifossorial rodents |
title_fullStr |
Light loggers reveal weather-driven changes in the daily activity patterns of arboreal and semifossorial rodents |
title_full_unstemmed |
Light loggers reveal weather-driven changes in the daily activity patterns of arboreal and semifossorial rodents |
title_sort |
light loggers reveal weather-driven changes in the daily activity patterns of arboreal and semifossorial rodents |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/95/6/1230 https://doi.org/10.1644/14-MAMM-A-062 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Urocitellus parryii |
genre_facet |
Arctic Urocitellus parryii |
op_relation |
http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/95/6/1230 http://dx.doi.org/10.1644/14-MAMM-A-062 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2014, Oxford University Press |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1644/14-MAMM-A-062 |
container_title |
Journal of Mammalogy |
container_volume |
95 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1230 |
op_container_end_page |
1239 |
_version_ |
1766329998048755712 |