Reaction norms in natural conditions: how does metabolic performance respond to weather variations in a small endotherm facing cold environments?

ABSTRACT: Reaction norms reflect an organisms' capacity to adjust its phenotype to the environment and allows for identifying trait values associated with physiological limits. However, reaction norms of physiological parameters are mostly unknown for endotherms living in natural conditions. Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) increase their metabolic performance during winter acclimatization and are thus good model to measure reaction norms in the wild. We repeatedly measured basal (BMR) and summit (Msum) metabolism in chickadees to characterize, for the first time in a free-living endotherm, reaction norms of these parameters across the natural range of weather variation. BMR varied between individuals and was weakly and negatively related to minimal temperature. Msum varied with minima

SUBMITTER: Petit M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4245212 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature