Riding out the storm: depleted fat stores and elevated hematocrit in a small bodied endotherm exposed to severe weather.

ABSTRACT: In the mid-continental grasslands of North America, climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. Increasingly severe storms and prolonged periods of elevated temperatures can impose challenges that adversely affect an individual's condition and, ultimately, survival. However, despite mounting evidence that extreme weather events, such as heavy rain storms, can impose short-term physiological challenges, we know little regarding the putative costs of such weather events. To determine the consequences of extreme weather for small endotherms, we tested predictions of the relationships between both severe precipitation events and wet bulb temperatures (an index that combines temperature and humidity) prior to capture with body composition and hematocrit o

SUBMITTER: Freeman NE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10026549 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature