Ecological specialization, variability in activity patterns and response to environmental change.

ABSTRACT: Differences in temporal patterns of activity can modulate the ambient conditions to which organisms are exposed, providing an important mechanism for responding to environmental change. Such differences may be particularly relevant to ecological generalists, which are expected to encounter a wider range of environmental conditions. Here, we compare temporal patterns of activity for partially sympatric populations of a generalist (the lodgepole chipmunk, Tamias speciosus) and a more specialized congener (the alpine chipmunk, Tamias alpinus) that have displayed divergent responses to the past century of environmental change. Although mean activity budgets were similar between species, analyses of individual-level variation in locomotion revealed that T. alpinus exhibited

SUBMITTER: Hammond TT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6030591 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature