Expression And Mechanisms Of Hibernation In The Artic: The Alaska Marmot And Arctic Ground Squirrel

• Main Author: Lee, Trixie Nicole
• Other Authors: O'Brien, Diane, Buck, Loren, Taylor, Barbara, Barnes, Brian
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Conservation biology; Animal Physiology; Wildlife conservation; Arctic; Fairbanks; Arctic ground squirrel; Urocitellus parryii; Alaska
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11122/9128

Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2012 The Arctic is home to animals that have taken adaptations to overwintering to extremes. In this dissertation, I have investigated one of these adaptations, hibernation, in two species from the Arctic, the Alaska marmot (Marmota broweri) and the arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus parryii ). The expression of hibernation under natural conditions in these species was compared by collecting body temperature records of free-living individuals. The Alaska marmot, a highly social species, demonstrated extreme synchrony in body temperature patterns among a family group, indicating a strong reliance on social thermoregulation. In contrast, the arctic ground squirrel was confirmed to be a solitary hibernator that reduces body temperature below freezing during torpor. Both species must produce heat when soil temperatures are significantly below freezing for most of the winter. At these subfreezing ambient temperatures, the arctic ground squirrel has shown an increasing reliance on nonlipid fuel during torpor, driving a loss of lean mass during hibernation of ~20%. I calibrated deuterium dilution to repeatedly estimate body composition in this species, which dramatically changes adiposity through its annual cycle, and used this technique to quantify lean mass loss throughout hibernation in a study of tissue metabolism. I also developed and applied the natural abundance of nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes as tools for monitoring differential tissue metabolism and differentiating mixed metabolic fuel use in the arctic ground squirrel. These data clarified the mechanism of change in nitrogen stable isotopes and indicated that hibernating ground squirrels rebuild organ tissues while breaking down muscle tissue to meet energetic demands. Furthermore, I corroborated a shift in metabolic fuel use toward nonlipid sources during torpor at low ambient temperatures by using the carbon isotope ratio in exhaled breath in combination with respiratory quotient. This ...