Rare and opportunistic use of torpor in mammals – an echo from the past?

Julia Nowack; Clare Stawski; Fritz Geiser; Danielle L Levesque

doi:10.1093/icb/icad067

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Rare and opportunistic use of torpor in mammals – an echo from the past?

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Rare and opportunistic use of torpor in mammals – an echo from the past?

Julia Nowack, Clare Stawski, Fritz Geiser and Danielle L Levesque

Integrative & Comparative Biology, Vol.63(5), pp.1049-1059

2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad067

PMCID: PMC10714912

PMID: 37328423

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Abstract

Evolution of endothermy

hibernation

predictability of torpor use

seasonal torpor

Torpor was traditionally seen as a winter survival mechanism employed by animals living in cold and highly seasonal habitats. Although we now know that torpor is also used by tropical and subtropical species, and in response to a variety of triggers, torpor is still largely viewed as a highly controlled, seasonal mechanism shown by Northern hemisphere species. To scrutinise this view, we report data from a macroanalysis in which we characterized the type and seasonality of torpor use from mammal species currently known to use torpor. Our findings suggest that predictable, seasonal, torpor patterns reported for Northern temperate and polar species are highly derived forms of torpor expression, whereas the more opportunistic and variable forms of torpor that we see in tropical and subtropical species are likely closer to the patterns expressed by ancestral mammals. Our data emphasise that the torpor patterns observed in the tropics and subtropics should be considered the norm and not the exception.

Details

Title: Rare and opportunistic use of torpor in mammals – an echo from the past?
Authors: Julia Nowack (Corresponding Author) - Liverpool John Moores University
Clare Stawski (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Fritz Geiser (Author) - University of New England
Danielle L Levesque (Author) - University of Maine
Publication details: Integrative & Comparative Biology, Vol.63(5), pp.1049-1059
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date published: 2023
DOI: 10.1093/icb/icad067
ISSN: 1557-7023
PMID: 37328423; PMC10714912
Copyright note: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Grant note: NSF IOS-284 2235558/ US National Science Foundation NSF IOS-285 2045785/ US National Science Foundation
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99735295302621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Zoology

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