Sex-specific trade-offs influence thermoregulation under climate change.

ABSTRACT: Increasingly, climate change is pushing species to the limits of their thermal tolerance, with cascading effects across ecosystems. Animals use behavior to prevent these harmful physiological states, but their need and ability to do so varies with their traits. Within species, traits such as sex and reproductive status affect heat sensitivity, perhaps eliciting differences in behavioral responses to thermal extremes. We evaluated whether sex and reproductive status affected thermoregulatory behavior and its efficacy in moose (Alces alces), a heat-sensitive endotherm that relies on thermal refuge. We expected traits associated with elevated heat load would be linked to heightened selection for thermal refuge and that differences in selection would successfully alleviate differing risks of o

SUBMITTER: Levine RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12174761 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature